As of the beginning of September 2025, Israeli occupation forces installed at least 5 additional gates in the Bethlehem Governorate, which already holds the highest number of movement restrictions across the West Bank, totaling now at least 57 (in addition to the 53, 4 new gates have been installed). New gates are located in the following: 1 in Beit Sahour, 1 in Al Maniyeh village (East), 2 in Beit Jala (one of them bars access to a hospital, Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR)), 1 in Dar Salah, and 1 in Nahalin village.
On 2 September 2025, the Israeli government announced measures to completely close the city of Bethlehem through military gates and checkpoints. This was followed on 10 September 2025 by plans to impose military annexation on the village of Al-Walaja, west of Bethlehem, incorporating it administratively into the Jerusalem municipality. Under this plan, all homes lacking official Israeli documentation would be deemed “illegal,” leading to the demolition of dozens of homes and the displacement of hundreds of families. Residents would also be issued new Israeli identity papers designed to reshape the demographic reality in the area. These measures are accompanied by settlement expansion around Al-Walaja and plans to link it with West Jerusalem through a network of settler roads.
The Isolation of Bethlehem must be perceived in light of the long-term Israeli plans to annex it, as well as the latest developments that have vastly advanced the Israeli annexation policies in the West Bank. Bethlehem, Jerusalem’s historic counterpart, has long constituted a central strategic site in Palestinian geography and history. Its geographical and historical proximity to Jerusalem has rendered it a continuous target of Israeli policies aimed at seizing Palestinian land and imposing demographic and political transformations. Amid the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to deepen its settlement and annexation project under the framework of “Greater Jerusalem.” Today, this colonial project finds its clearest expression in the advancement of the E1 plan, described as the “death blow” to what remains of the two-state solution.
The persistence of the occupation stems from Israel’s lack of intent to return the occupied territories to the Palestinians. Rather, Israel seeks their gradual annexation, facilitated by the absence of international accountability. This is manifested in the ongoing confiscation of land, the establishment and expansion of settlements, and the transfer of Israeli settlers thereto, in addition to the fragmentation and marginalization of Palestinian territory.
The E1 Project and Its Dimensions in Bethlehem
The E1 project is one of the most dangerous Israeli settlement schemes, aiming to connect the Ma’ale Adumim settlement with East Jerusalem through the construction of more than 3,400 settlement units on an area of approximately 12 km², including roads, infrastructure, and industrial zones. Its implementation would effectively bisect the West Bank into northern and southern parts, isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, and consolidate the integration of Ma’ale Adumim into “Greater Jerusalem,” thereby entrenching de facto annexation.
Despite international pressure that has prevented its implementation since the 1990s and described it as the “death knell of the two-state solution”, the Netanyahu–Smotrich government reactivated the project during the ongoing aggression on Gaza, exploiting the international community’s preoccupation with the war. In July 2025, the Israeli Cabinet approved a budget of 335 million shekels for infrastructure development in the area.
All of the recent above-mentioned escalation in terms of installing new movement restrictions, isolation policies, settlement expansion, and house demolitions signal a comprehensive geographic reconfiguration that threatens to sever Bethlehem’s territorial continuity and isolate it from its western villages. Analysts have described this policy as the “most dangerous in decades,” emphasizing that it is not merely administrative annexation, but rather a form of historical uprooting and erasure of Palestinian identity in Al-Walaja and its surroundings.
Additionally, media leaks and unofficial documents circulated since early 2025 point to broader Israeli plans to fragment Bethlehem and its surroundings into separate administrative zones, including: placing the Church of the Nativity under Vatican custody, linking Beit Sahour to Ma’ale Adumim, isolating Beit Jala and annexing it to nearby settlements, and demolishing Dheisheh Refugee Camp and other Palestinian communities deemed “undesirable” by Israeli security agencies. Although these plans have not been officially declared, statements and leaked documents connected to Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees the Civil Administration in the West Bank, reveal intentions regarding the status of the Palestinians who hold Jordanian documents. These individuals, including those with temporary Jordanian passports or without national numbers, would be classified as “illegal residents” in annexed areas, paving the way for their deportation to Jordan. Observers warn that if implemented, this policy would constitute mass forced displacement disguised as a legal and administrative measure, amounting to a grave breach of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Accordingly, while these scenarios remain within the realm of leaks, their gravity lies in reflecting a clear political trajectory toward the demographic and administrative re-engineering of Bethlehem. If realized, they would inaugurate a new phase of systematic forced displacement in the heart of the West Bank, posing a direct threat to the historical Palestinian presence in the city and its environs.
International Law: Prohibition on Annexation and Accountability
These policies illustrate the transformation of Bethlehem into a contemporary ghetto, shaped by the annexation wall, military checkpoints, and bypass roads that fragment and isolate it from its surroundings. The irony lies in Israel’s reproduction of the European ghetto model, historically imposed on Jews, now applied against Palestinians, turning Bethlehem and its environs into confined enclaves governed by diminished rights and incomplete identities.
This reality amounts to the crime of apartheid as defined in Article 7(2)(h) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, whereby an institutionalized regime imposes systematic separation and oppression based on national identity. It also constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) prohibiting the transfer of the occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory, and Article 47, which protects the rights of the occupied population. Furthermore, the establishment and expansion of settlements contravene Article 55 of the Hague Regulations (1907), which obligates the occupying power to administer occupied territory for the benefit of the local population.
Violations of Fundamental Human Rights
These policies undermine a range of fundamental rights enshrined in international human rights law, including:
- The right to self-determination (Article 1 of both International Covenants).
- The right to equality and non-discrimination (Article 26 of the ICCPR).
- The property right (Article 17 of the UDHR).
- The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing (Article 11 of the ICESCR).
- Freedom of movement (Article 12 of the ICCPR).
The E1 project and its associated policies of displacement, administrative engineering, and religious-political maneuvers are not merely an expansion of settlements; they represent a systematic colonial enterprise aimed at transforming a temporary occupation into a permanent regime of annexation, segregation, and forced uprooting. Bethlehem, with its profound historical, religious, and geographic significance, now lies at the heart of this scheme, becoming a symbol of Israel’s ghettoization and apartheid policies against the Palestinian people.
Confronting these schemes is not only a moral imperative but also a legal obligation under international law, as reaffirmed by the ICJ’s latest advisory opinion of 19 July 2024. The Court concluded that Israel’s prolonged occupation, annexation measures, and settlement policies in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are unlawful. It further laid out the international responsibility of all states: they must not recognize as lawful the situation created by Israel’s policies; they must not aid or assist in maintaining this unlawful situation; and they have a duty to cooperate to bring it to an end, while ensuring respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
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