Israel renaming Jerusalem landmarks to erase city's Arab identity: governorate

Governorate says that Israeli attempts to impose new realities will 'not erase the city’s history, collective memory'

The Jerusalem Governorate said on Wednesday that the Israeli authorities were continuing to rename streets, landmarks and historic sites in Jerusalem as part of a policy aimed at replacing traditional Arab place names with Hebrew ones.

The governorate said that Israeli authorities had installed a sign reading “Old Gate” while removing signs bearing the original name of Bab al-Amoud, also known as the Damascus Gate, one of the best-known entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City.

According to the governorate, the move was not only an administrative change but part of a broader effort to reshape Jerusalem’s urban and cultural landscape and efface historic Arab place names.

It said the names of Jerusalem’s gates, streets and landmarks formed part of the city’s national, historical and cultural memory, warning that replacing them threatened the city’s Arab, Islamic and Christian heritage.

Israeli occupation authorities removed the sign identifying the historic Bab al-Amud Gate in occupied Jerusalem and replaced it with a sign calling it the "Old Gate," in a move targeting the city's Arab names and historical landmarks.

Bab Al-Amud, also known as the Damascus… pic.twitter.com/I7DoTVMOYE

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 26, 2026

The governorate warned of “continued efforts to alter Jerusalem’s historic character”, asserting that Israeli attempts to impose new realities would “not erase the city’s history or collective memory”.

The statement was issued a day after Israel seized the Qalandia Training Centre, run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), in occupied East Jerusalem, a move to which Palestinian authorities called for a “firm international response”.

Read: UN experts warn Jerusalem facing 'irreversible de-Palestinisation'

East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory under international law.

The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the historic city, while Palestinians regard East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Several UN resolutions, including Security Council Resolution 478, have rejected measures aimed at changing the character, demographic composition, or political and legal status of Jerusalem.

On March 7, UN experts warned that irreparable harm was being inflicted on Jerusalem, as violence engulfed the region, and genocide against the Palestinians continued in Gaza and spilled into the West Bank.

In a statement, the experts said, “Under the cover of an existential war against the Palestinians, Israel is accelerating measures that alter Jerusalem’s demographic composition, religious character and legal status, destroying the remnants of the pluralistic fabric that Jerusalem has represented for centuries, for Muslims, Christians and Jews.

“What is being done to this world symbol of spiritual coexistence and shared heritage is irreversible.”

In occupied East Jerusalem, extrajudicial killings, large-scale demolitions and forced displacement have rapidly increased. Checkpoints and closures have also intensified, severing the city from surrounding Palestinian areas, isolating communities from their social, cultural, economic and religious life while undermining their rights to self-determination and development.