While world attention is focused on Israel’s relentless war on Gaza, Israeli settlement expansion southwest of Jerusalem continues to accelerate at breakneck speed. The government is now claiming as the location for a new illegal settlement an area that sits on Palestinian land within a UNESCO World Heritage List site.

The World Heritage Site consists of 11 square kilometers southwest of Jerusalem that span the area between the Palestinian villages of Husan, Battir, and al-Walaja, and the towns of Beit Jala and al-Khadir. The unique agricultural landscape, abundant with natural springs, is renowned for its terraces and ancient and sophisticated irrigation systems and has been cultivated and maintained by local communities for thousands of years. About 25,000 Palestinians live in these villages.1

On August 14, 2024, the Civil Administration’s Blue Line Team released the so-called blue line for the planned new settlement of Nalah Heletz, which would be the first new settlement to be built in the West Bank since 2017. It encompasses an oddly shaped area of 602.7 dunums (around 150 acres) adjacent to two existing illegal settlement outposts (Battir, re-established for a third time on December 24, 2023, and Mahrour, established in 2019).2 This step indicates Israel declaring this land as state or public land, and it is a pre-requisite for approving a construction plan3 and an indication of a new settlement soon to come.

The land in question belongs to the historic agricultural village of Battir and is part of a natural trail area that extends from the Palestinian town of Beit Jala to Battir, both in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians refer to the area as Wadi al-Makhrour (the Rippling or Flowing Valley) due to the sound of the water that flows down from the hill into the valley. For the residents of the Bethlehem Governorate (see Interactive Map—Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate (Muhafazat al-Quds)), this is the only remaining green space in the area after Jewish settlements were established around Bethlehem.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law. On top of that, this proposed new settlement would harm the heritage site of another country, which is forbidden according to the 1972 UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, to which Israel is a signatory.4

The proposal for Nahal Heletz received preliminary approval in June, together with four settlement outposts.5 It will be located smack among the Palestinian localities of al-Walaja, Battir, Hassan al-Gharbiyya, Beit Jala, and al-Khadir, even in some places nearly abutting Palestinian homes only meters away. It also threatens to isolate Bethlehem from neighboring Palestinian areas and significantly affect the geographical contiguity of the area for Palestinians, while de facto expanding the area of Jerusalem to the south.

Once this settlement is finished, the Palestinian city of Bethlehem will be surrounded by Jewish-only settlements.

Jewish settlements, by contrast, will be further connected—specifically, the Gush Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem with Jerusalem (see The Three Israeli Settlement Rings in and around East Jerusalem: Supplanting Palestinian Jerusalem). This also comes on the heels of the cabinet’s decision in February 2023 to establish the Sde Boaz settlement to the south of the planned site for Nahal Heletz, which will perform similar functions of disconnecting Palestinian settled areas and connecting/bridging Jewish ones.

The pace of settlement construction picked up after the signing of the Oslo Agreements in the 1990s, which placed these and other lands under Israeli administrative and civil control, facilitating their confiscation.

The approval for Nahal Heletz came rapidly on the heels of the approval of three plans to expand the existing settlement Gilo from both the north and the south (see Israel to Advance Nearly 7,000 Israeli Settlement Units in East Jerusalem).

Wadi al-Makhrour extends from the Cremisan Monastery to the village of Battir and has become a major destination for tourists and locals. The valley is particularly known for its picturesque landscapes—its freshwater springs, mountains, and caves. Small structures built by landowners to overnight in when they come to tend to their crops are visible; in the past decade, the Civil Administration has demolished some of them.

The valley is also world famous for its ancient agricultural terraces. Some people claim that it produces the most delicious apricots in Palestine. The valley is considered one of the few areas that contain ancient trees. For bird lovers, the area is a bird sanctuary, home to endangered species such as the honey buzzard, the black-eared wheatear, the Palestine sunbird, and the sand partridge.

Local families still cultivate its groves and orchards, and some of the land is privately owned. One of the families who has been affected is the Qaisiya family. In 2019, the Civil Administration demolished a home and restaurant the family had built; the family says it has a title to the land, which was reaffirmed by an Israeli court in 2023. On an adjacent plot, a settler outpost was established (al-Makhrour Outpost). According to the Jewish National Fund and its subsidiary, Himanuta, the plot had been bought several decades ago from a local landowner. In recent years, the Jewish National Fund has become more active in enabling the settlers to take over Palestinian properties and expand the settlements.6

Ali Abunimah, cofounder of Electronic Intifada, an independent online news publication focusing on Palestine, commented on the proposal for the new settlement on X: “This is my family’s village of Battir near Jerusalem, one of the most bio diversified places in Palestine, and a UNESCO world heritage site. Battir families have cared for this land for centuries. Now, ‘Israel’ has announced new land theft and construction of Jewish-only colonies.”7

Jad Isaac, director general of Applied Research Institute—Jerusalem, told Jerusalem Story that settlements continue to be used to further political and ideological agendas. “This is part of a broader strategy by the Jerusalem-based settlement organization Elad to reinforce Jewish presence and influence in East Jerusalem. The fact that the project was pushed through without the usual public tender, with strong backing from a government that shares Elad’s views, raises serious questions about transparency and fairness. It’s clear that this project has significant economic and political implications, strengthening Israel’s control over the city and complicating efforts toward peace. These kinds of developments are not isolated incidents but rather part of a larger pattern that continues to escalate tensions in an already charged city.”8

Saeed Abdul Rahman, 45, is a Jerusalemite who loves walking on natural trails to discover the beauty of the country; with each walk he takes, he says, he rediscovers the beauty of Wadi al-Makhrour, especially those agricultural terraces, rushing water, and the diversity of birds that inhabit and fly through it. He has noticed that recently more settlers have begun walking on the same trail, escorted by the Israeli army. Their presence diminishes the calm and splendor of the valley, he says.9

In his view, establishing a settlement in that location aims to deliberately destroy the environment and the beautiful and distinctive nature of Palestine, in addition to the fracturing and dismemberment of Palestinian localities and lands. Abdul Rahman and other residents of the Bethlehem Governorate fear that they will no longer have any green spaces to go to when they want a break from the city.

Some 25,000 Palestinians live in the villages west of Bethlehem, which constitute an essential part of the Palestinian societal fabric in the area. The construction of this settlement aims to completely encircle Bethlehem. By cutting off Bethlehem from Jerusalem, it undermines the geographical contiguity of the area, thereby eliminating the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state in the future.

Peace Now says this most recent settlement decision is part of a broader strategy aimed at expanding the scope of Israeli settlement and strengthening the contiguity between Gush Etzion and Jerusalem—and securing Israeli control over the land.

Dror Etkes, founder of the NGO Kerem Navot and expert on Israeli settlement planning, described the proposed settlement on X as follows: “You don’t have to be a city planner to understand that there is no human settlement that looks like this. This is what a nationalist attack looks like in the heart of the lands of Battir, [al-Walaja,] and Beit Jala.”10

An article published on the Peace Now website makes this claim: “The jurisdictional area designated for the settlement contradicts all planning logic.”11 It lists several reasons other than the two main ones (disruption of Palestinian contiguity and seizure of a World Heritage Site):

• The designated area is relatively small by settlement standards, which means it “lacks any significant development potential.”12
• Some of the planned settlement homes will be separated from existing Palestinian homes by only 30 to 50 meters.
• The area lacks an access road; the only path to the site is through Palestinian private property.

Bethlehem University professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History, described what is happening in the West Bank as “catastrophic”: “Pogroms, intensified apartheid, more colonial settlements on Palestinian lands. The future for all of us humans and plants and animals is getting bleaker. We had previously designated the area (with the International Union of Conservation of Nature and the Environment Quality Authority) as a new protected area.”13

Qumsiyeh said that Jewish settlers accompanied by the Israeli army raided the land, assaulting members of the Qaisiya family and activists at the site trying to force them to leave the area. Since then, human rights activists (including Combatants for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights, and others) have been joining the Qaisiya family nightly in an attempt to reclaim their land. Despite the family’s attempts to enter the area, Israel soldiers have violently forced the activists and family members off the land, using “closed military zone” orders. On August 8, 2024, the family together with other activists set up an encampment next to the land in nonviolent protest and are inviting solidarity activists to join.

The latest Israeli illegal action on historic and rich biodiversified Palestinian land has yet to produce a public reaction from UNESCO, which declared Battir a World Heritage Site in 2014. While the international community has a role to play in stopping the latest settlement drive and Palestinians will undoubtedly continue to protest, the brazen incursion into some of the last remaining green areas available for Palestinian expansion will not likely be stopped.