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Palestinians Urge Blinken Against Allowing US Embassy to Be Built on Confiscated Land in Jerusalem

A general view of the temporary United States embassy in Jerusalem taken on May 14, 2018. (AFP)
A general view of the temporary United States embassy in Jerusalem taken on May 14, 2018. (AFP)
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Palestinians Urge Blinken Against Allowing US Embassy to Be Built on Confiscated Land in Jerusalem

A general view of the temporary United States embassy in Jerusalem taken on May 14, 2018. (AFP)
A general view of the temporary United States embassy in Jerusalem taken on May 14, 2018. (AFP)

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, filed on Monday a letter to object against a plan to build the new US embassy and diplomatic compound in Jerusalem. The letter charges that the missions will be built on land that was confiscated from Palestinians.

The letter was sent to the Jerusalem District Planning Committee at the Israeli Interior Ministry, US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Israel earlier this week.

The objection was filed by Adalah’s legal director on behalf of 12 of the heirs of the original Palestinian owners of the land the State Department is seeking to build on. The heirs include four US citizens, three Jordanians, and five East Jerusalem residents.

The US embassy compound is set to be built on a plot of land formerly known as the Allenby Barracks.

Adalah revealed that Israel had confiscated the land from the original owners using the 1950 Israeli Absentees’ Property Law. The land was then registered as state property, and later allocated to the US government.

In February 2021, the State Department and the Land Authority submitted plans for a US diplomatic compound. The move was made after former US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017 and relocated the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.

In November 2022, Adalah and the Center for Constitutional Rights sent a letter to Blinken and Nides, calling on the US to cancel the new embassy plans and the Israeli government to withdraw them.

Records found in the Israeli State Archives and released by Adalah in July 2022 clearly prove that the land was owned by Palestinian families and leased temporarily to British Mandate authorities before the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Adalah and the Center for Constitutional Rights emphasized that if the US proceeds with this plan, it will be a full-throated endorsement of Israel’s illegal confiscation of private Palestinian property. The State Department will become an active participant in violating the private property rights of its own citizens.

The descendants of the original owners include renowned Palestinian-American historian and professor, Rashid Khalidi.

He revealed that he was one of the Palestinian property owners who, in 1999, provided then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with extensive documentation showing that at least 70 percent of this land is owned by Palestinian refugees, including dozens of American citizen heirs.

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Arab World

Syria’s Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases

Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
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Syria’s Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases

Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)

Syria’s High Committee for National Reconciliation has defended recent controversial prisoner releases, saying the decision aims to preserve national stability amid ongoing tensions.

Committee member Hassan Soufan confirmed that several officers recently freed had voluntarily surrendered in 2021 at the Iraqi border and in the Al-Sukhna region, under a formal request for safe conduct.

Speaking at a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday, Soufan addressed public backlash following the releases and acknowledged the deep pain felt by victims’ families.

“We fully understand the anger and grief of the families of martyrs,” he said. “But the current phase requires decisions that can help secure relative stability for the coming period.”

The controversy erupted after the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday the release of dozens of detainees in Latakia, many of whom were arrested during the “Deterrence of Aggression” operation, which contributed to the fall of the Assad regime.

Among those involved in the mediation effort was Fadi Saqr, a former commander in the regime’s National Defense Forces, who has been accused of war crimes, including involvement in the Tadamon massacre in southern Damascus.

Soufan explained that the released officers had undergone investigation and were found not to have participated in war crimes. “Keeping them imprisoned no longer serves a national interest,” he said. “It has no legal justification.”

He stressed that Syria is in a delicate phase of national reconciliation, in which balancing justice and peace is critical.

“There are two parallel tracks - transitional justice and civil peace - and today, the priority is civil peace, as it lays the groundwork for all other strategic efforts,” he said.

Soufan added that the committee has requested expanded powers from the Syrian president, including the authority to release detainees not proven guilty and to coordinate directly with state institutions.

He insisted that the aim is not to bypass justice, but to prevent further bloodshed. “Vengeance and retribution are not paths to justice,” he said. “They allow real criminals to slip away while deepening divisions.”

While affirming that transitional justice remains essential, Soufan noted that it should focus on top perpetrators of atrocities, not individuals who merely served under the regime. “Justice means accountability for those who planned and carried out major crimes, not blanket punishment.”