Israel plans Jewish heritage center at Palestinian airport in E. Jerusalem

The Israeli government is expected to approve plans next week to build a Jewish heritage center on the site of the abandoned Jerusalem International Airport in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Israeli media reports.

Channel 7 said the government will meet next week to approve a proposal by Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu to establish the center in the city’s northern part.

Before Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, Jerusalem International Airport served as the only airport in the territory. Israel later seized the airport and converted it into a limited domestic airport before shutting it down completely in 2000.

The airport was established in 1920, while British Mandate authorities began using it in 1924. It officially opened to regular flights in 1936.

Channel 7 said the abandoned airport buildings, including the historic passenger terminal, would be restored and transformed into a heritage center highlighting Jerusalem’s role in regional air transport.

The report said the project would cost 3 million shekels (about $1 million), funded through the Heritage Ministry’s approved 2026 budget.

The Israeli government had previously approved plans to establish an illegal settlement with 9,000 housing units on the airport’s land.

In a statement, the Jerusalem Governorate warned that the Israeli project aims to transform the site into a “heritage, tourism, and educational center” to serve the Israeli narrative on Jerusalem.

The airport area lies between East Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. The United Nations considers the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, an occupied Palestinian territory.

While Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state in line with international resolutions.

Palestinians say Israel has intensified efforts for decades, particularly through settlement expansion and displacement policies, to Judaize occupied East Jerusalem and erase its Arab and Islamic identity, which they argue undermines the prospects for peace and a two-state solution.

The international community and the U.N. consider the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, an occupied Palestinian territory and view Israeli settlements there as illegal under international law.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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