Jerusalem Governorate Says Netanyahu’s Heritage Center Foundation Stone Escalates Settlement Expansion in Qalandiya

The Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s laying of the foundation stone for the so-called "Heritage Center" at the site of the historic Jerusalem International Airport in Qalandiya, north of occupied Jerusalem, represents a dangerous escalation in settlement expansion and a shift from planning to imposing facts on the ground.

“- Move is part of a broader policy aimed at using these areas to advance the colonial settlement project HEBRON: The director of the tourism and antiquities directorate in Hebron, Jabr Al-Rajoub, said Israeli authorities are moving forward with a plan to assert control over 142 archaeological sites in the governorate by transferring their administration from military authorities to a civilian body affiliated with the Israeli government”

Arab News

The governorate described the project as a move to seize a Palestinian sovereign landmark and transform it into a facility serving the Israeli narrative, linking it to Israeli political and military figures and promoting what it called "the history of settlement".

France 24

It said the step comes within decisions adopted by the occupation government on 17 May, coinciding with so-called "Jerusalem Day," and includes converting the former airport building into a cultural and ideological center that reinterprets the site’s history according to an Israeli narrative.

The governorate also warned that the Heritage Center plan coincides with wider settlement escalation in northern Jerusalem, including a plan for a waste treatment facility on Qalandiya lands and the expansion of the Atarot settlement project, which it said aims to establish thousands of housing units.

In its statement, the governorate framed the move as a violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334, and said it threatens to undermine the prospects for an independent and geographically contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

In Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had "asked to be annexed" by Israel for protection from Hezbollah.

France 24 reported that Netanyahu made the claim again while reaffirming that Israeli troops would remain in southern Lebanon "as long as necessary" to protect residents of the north and all the citizens of Israel.

Kapitalis

The France 24 account cited the mayor of the Christian village of Rmeish, Hanna al-Amil, who denied Netanyahu’s claim through Lebanese public broadcaster NNA and said even contemplating it was "absolutely out of the question."

L'Orient Today similarly reported Netanyahu’s statement that Israel protects Christian villages from Hezbollah militants who want to kill them, and said he did not name the villages.

Both outlets tied the broader conflict to Hezbollah rockets fired on March 2 in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in joint US-Israeli strikes, after which Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

In Gaza and the West Bank, Kapitalis argued that the International Day for Monuments and Sites (IDMS) celebration under UNESCO’s aegis invites a pause on UNESCO’s attitude toward Palestinian heritage amid what it described as assaults on monuments and sites for more than two years in the Gaza Strip and threats in the West Bank.

“For more than two years, the absolute priority in Gaza has certainly been to protect lives and to provide humanitarian aid”

Kapitalis

Kapitalis said the theme chosen for this year’s IDMS was "Living heritage and emergency interventions," and it quoted the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) that living heritage "encompasses all dimensions of cultural heritage – tangible, intangible – and natural."

The article also recalled that the Old City of Jerusalem/Al-Quds and its walls were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981, and that in 1982 the Old City of Al-Quds was listed on the World Heritage List in Danger, a status it said has not left since.

In the same discussion of heritage governance, Kapitalis described UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee as reiterating that it "decides that the status of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls on the World Heritage List remains unchanged."

Across the other reporting on Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Governorate warned that continuing settlement-linked projects like the Heritage Center would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, and called on the international community to take urgent and effective action to stop them.