Israel gave final approval for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank that would effectively cut the territory in two, and that Palestinians and rights groups say could destroy plans for a future Palestinian state. Settlement development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for two-plus decades, but it was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations. On Wednesday, the project received final approval from the Planning and Building Committee, reports the AP. If the process moves quickly, infrastructure work could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in a year.
The plan includes around 3,500 apartments to expand the settlement of Maale Adumim, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Thursday. Smotrich cast the approval as a riposte to Western countries recently announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state. "This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize," Smotrich said. "Anyone in the world who tries today to recognize a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground."
The location of E1 is significant as it's one of the last geographical links between Ramallah, in the northern West Bank, and Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. The two cities are 14 miles apart by air, but Palestinians traveling between them must take a wide detour and pass through multiple Israeli checkpoints, adding hours to the journey. The hope was to have the region eventually serve as a direct link between the cities. Peace Now, an organization that tracks West Bank settlement expansion, called the E1 project "deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution."
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Israel's plans to expand settlements are part of an increasingly difficult reality for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. There've been marked increases in attacks by settlers on Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns, and movement-stifling checkpoints, as well as several Palestinian attacks on Israelis. More than 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and a peace obstacle.
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