Nof Zion

Nof Zion sits on a slope of Jabel Mukaber, an Arab area of southern East Jerusalem captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.[2] The development is associated with Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv ridge and is also referred to in sources as Nofei Zion.[1]

Jabel Mukaber is the western portion of the original Palestinian village of al-Sawahra. After the Six-Day War, this western section was annexed to Jerusalem's municipal territory and its residents received Israeli identification cards, while the eastern portion remained outside the municipal boundary.[7] The broader neighborhood was described in 2016 as having approximately 30,000 residents.[7]

Israel's Supreme Court formally recognized East Jerusalem as part of Israel in 1967, although the international community considers Jewish communities beyond the 1949 armistice line to be illegal settlements.[8]

In the 1990s, real-estate contractors purchased a plot in Jabel Mukaber from Arab owners and prepared a construction plan.[9] Approval for 395 housing units was granted in 1994, and the first completed phase contained 91 homes.[9] The project was developed by Digal Investments and Holdings, whose owner and general director was Yehuda Levi.[2]

The initial phase covered 28 acres and included foundations for four lots containing 91 apartments.[2] Construction began after major legal cases concerning the project had been resolved, with developers stating that it had legal backing and was proceeding according to city-approved plans.[2]

The sources used for the development do not provide a resident-population total for Nof Zion. Planners instead described the intended community as mixed, cosmopolitan, modern Orthodox, and Jewish.[2] A 2019 report stated that the first families had moved into the privately funded community approximately eight years earlier.[3]

Housing totals vary by reporting date. Accounts counted 91 existing homes in 2017,[6] 96 in 2019,[3] and 95 residential units in 2023.[4] These figures describe the development at different stages of construction rather than a single contemporaneous count.

Apartments in the initial development were marketed for between $360,000 and $600,000 and, at the time of the 2006 report, had been sold mainly to Jewish Americans.[2] Nof Zion was later described as a privately funded Jewish community established in 2000.[3]

Promotional material presented the project as a self-contained, gated community. Plans called for a shopping center, country club, school, and mikveh, reflecting the developers' intention to provide communal, educational, religious, and recreational facilities within the complex.[2]

The Goldman Promenade, which joined the Hass and Sherover promenades along the Armon Hanatziv ridge, continues eastward toward Armon Hanatziv and Nofei Zion.[1] The hillside development also commands views of the Old City, the Mount of Olives, Mount Zion, and, in clear weather, the Dead Sea.[2]

Shemini Properties Ltd., which owned a significant portion of the original plot, later sought permits for 13 buildings containing 176 additional housing units.[9] In October 2017, a Jerusalem planning committee approved the 176-home expansion, to be added to the 91 homes then reported as existing.[6] The approval was conditioned on resolving outstanding property-ownership issues in favor of the neighborhood's Jewish residents. Palestinian landowners appealed, arguing that the land designated for expansion belonged to them.[6]

By 2019, work had begun on the expansion. The land was reported to have been purchased by Jerusalem businessman Rami Levy in partnership with Australian entrepreneur Kevin Bermeister, identified as one of the founders of Skype.[3] At that stage, the development had approximately 96 existing homes, and the addition was expected to make Nof Zion the largest Jewish enclave in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem.[3]

In 2023, a proposal called Nof Zahav envisioned 100 further housing units and 275 hotel rooms near Jabel Mukaber.[4] Nof Zion was then described as an isolated enclave with 95 residential units and approximately 200 additional units under construction. If the plan advanced, the neighborhood could reach a capacity of nearly 400 housing units.[4] The municipality's professional planning department objected, while the Local Planning and Construction Committee recommended depositing the proposal with the Jerusalem District Planning Committee. The report did not state that final approval had been granted.[4]

On October 23, 2015, residents of Nof Zion reported a suspicious man observing their houses.[10] Police located the individual and discovered a knife concealed in his sleeve.[10] The man, identified as a 21-year-old resident of Jabel Mukaber, reportedly admitted during interrogation that he had been planning a stabbing attack against neighborhood residents.[10]

Nof Zion's placement within a predominantly Arab neighborhood has generated sustained political dispute. Peace Now and other nongovernmental organizations characterized the development as a settlement and argued that the 2017 expansion would make it the largest Israeli settlement inside a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem.[6] Jerusalem councilman Arieh King welcomed the project, while Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky argued that it symbolized a governmental choice to obstruct the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Jerusalem.[3]

An INSS analysis identified Nof Zion as a neighborhood in Jabel Mukaber and argued that constructing Jewish neighborhoods within Palestinian-populated areas could complicate demographic separation in Jerusalem.[5] Palestinian neighbors also raised property and access concerns; one resident stated that approximately 25 families could lose road or pedestrian access if later construction phases proceeded.[2] In 2017, Palestinian landowners were contesting ownership of land designated for the expansion, and the approval remained conditioned on resolution of those claims.[6]