Israel approves controversial E1 settlement plans in West Bank

Israel gave a final approval for a controversial settlement project, which will effectively cut the West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the region into two.

Construction in the E1 region has been frozen for twenty years in the midst of the violent international opposition. Critics warn that it will end hopes for a applicable, adjacent Palestinian state.

A Ministry of Defense Committee approved 3,400 home plans at E1 on Wednesday. Explaining them last week, the far -right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the idea of the Palestinian state was “deleted”.

The Palestinian authority condemned the movement, saying that it was illegal and that a two -state solution would “destroy” the expectations.

It follows the statements of increasing number of countries on the intention of recognizing a Palestinian state condemned by Israel.

Israel built approximately 160 settlements that hosted 700,000 Jews for invading the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the Middle East War 1967 – the Palestinians wanted to ask for a future state with Gaza. The estimated 3,3 million Palestinians live.

The settlements are considered illegal in the scope of international law – but Israel objected to this last year.

Sequential Israeli governments allowed settlements to grow. However, at the beginning of a right -wing, pro -coalition at the end of 2022, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the expansion has increased sharply since Hamas returned to power at the beginning of the Gaza War, which was triggered by the Israeli attack on October 7, 2023.

The 3,401 housing plans in the E1, which covers approximately 12 km2 (4.6 m2) between the settlement of East Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, were approved by the Civil Administration High Planning Council.

The Ministry of Defense also approved 342 units in the new settlement of ASEEL, a former police station built in South West Bank without government authority but was legally made under Israeli laws in May.

“The Palestinian state is not wiped out of the table, not by slogans,” Smotrich is a ultranational leader who controls civilian administration.

“Every settlement, every neighborhood, every residential unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”

He also urged Netanyahu to “complete the movement” and formally annexes the West Bank.

Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 with a movement that was not recognized by the majority of the international community.

The opponents of the E1 project warned that the West Bank would cut the north of the south from the south and will effectively prevent the establishment of the Palestinian state as it will prevent the development at the center of a adjacent Palestinian urban area connecting East Jerusalem and Bethem.

Israel’s anti -settlement observer has now warned: “Under the cover of the war, Smotrich and his Christ minority are building a prisoner for evacuation in any agreement. The only purpose of E1 is to sabotage a political solution and to run towards the dual apartheid state.”

The Palestinian authority, which does not rule some parts of the West Bank under the control of Israel, condemned the approval of the E1 plans.

“This plan will isolate Jerusalem from the Palestinian circle, sink into large settlements from the Palestinian circle, and break the West Bank into the uninhabitants similar to open -air prisons,” PA said.

He also claimed that the approval had “official Israel’s settlement crimes, annexation, genocide and forced relocation” – that Israel has long rejected.

The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs called “the real international action, including sanctions, to stop Israel’s colonial plans (…) and respect the international consensus to solve the Palestinian question”.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said that if the E1 plans are implemented, he would “divide a Palestinian state into two, mark an ugly violation of international law and critically weaken the two -state solution.”

“The Israeli government should reverse this decision,” he added.

King of Jordan II. Abdullah rejected E1 plans: “The two -state solution is the only way to achieve a fair and comprehensive peace.”

A German government spokesman said that the settlement construction has violated international laws and “a two -state solution and the West Bank end the occupation of Israel”.

There was no immediate comment from the USA.

However, when Israel was asked by the army radio about the attitude of the Trump administration on E1 on Monday, Ambassador Mike Huckabe said: “It is a decision for the Israeli government. So we would not try to evaluate the good or evil.”

“As a general rule, it is not a violation of international law. It is also our duty to admit that Israelis have the right to live in Israel.”

In July 2024 from the International Court of Justice, the consultation view, Israel’s “ongoing existence in the occupied Palestinian region is illegal”, and the country’s “illegal existence as quickly as possible,” he said.

The Israeli Prime Minister insisted that the court made the “decision of lies” and “the Jewish people were not invading in their territory”.