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Nof Zion, an Israeli settlement located in the heart of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Al-Mukaber, is located on 44 dunams of Palestinian owned land. This luxurious closed gate community of around 400 residential units advertises itself as a private residential neighborhood for Jews.

There are currently 70 families living in this neighborhood, many of them Americans who through Israel's "Law of Return" could claim the right to the land of Palestinians who had lived there for centuries.

Israel's establishment of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the concurrent settling of its population in these occupied Palestinian territories, is illegal under international law. For example and specific to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, United Nations Security Council Resolution 446 states: "the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."

The services that will be available to the residents of Nof Zion illustrate the vast inequalities existing in the lives of Jerusalem’s Palestinian and Jewish residents. While the settlers have unlimited access to water, for example, the Palestinian water supply is often shut off by the Jerusalem Municipality. The road through the settlement is newly constructed and in perfect condition, while the road through Jabel Al-Mukaber is barely usable. Although the Palestinians are still allowed to use the access road, they fear that in the future they will be completely cut off from the main areas of Jerusalem and the West Bank.

There are no public facilities available to the youth of Jabel Al-Mukaber. At present, the only public building that has been erected in Nof Zion is the community synagogue. However, there are plans to build a daycare center, sports clubs, parks, a shopping center, a school, and a hotel. Even though the school has not been built yet in the settlement, the children in the neighborhood are sent to a nearby a school that only accepts Jewish students. Although there are schools in Jabel Al-Mukaber for the Palestinian children, this "separate but equal" arrangement only further plays into the policy of apartheid and discrimination that the Israeli government promotes.

The creation of settlements like Nof Zion in Jerusalem exaggerates the social inequalities between Palestinians and Israelis and further complicates the ability to negotiate and reach a just peace.