Israel approves E1 settlement to 'erase' Palestinian state with 'actions not slogans'

Israel has rubber stamped the construction of the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, in a move that a minister described as “erasing” a Palestinian state “not with slogans but with actions”. 

The settlement subcommittee of the Civil Administration on Wednesday approved the building of 3,400 new housing units on occupied Palestinian territory.  

The majority of them will be built near an existing settlement in Maale Adumim, in an area that aims to connect settlements in the West Bank with occupied East Jerusalem. 

The plan also includes 342 units in a new settlement in Asael, in the south of the West Bank. 

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, said: “Today we are placing historical facts on the ground. In E1 we are finally realising what has been promised for years. This is a defining moment for settlement, for security, and for the entire state of Israel.”

For the second time in recent days, the minister directly linked the project with killing a two-state solution. 

“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions. Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea,” Smotrich said.

The minister, who leads the Religious Zionism party, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “complete the move” by “applying full sovereignty in Judea and Samaria - here and now”. 

He was referring to the formal annexation of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied in violation of international law since 1967. 

The E1 construction plan dates back to the late 1990s, but its implementation has been delayed due to international opposition. 

Both the United States and the European Union have warned successive Israeli governments against advancing the project, citing its impact on a two-state solution. 

'European leaders will have nothing to recognise'

The acceleration of the plans appear to be in response to France, Britain, Canada and Australia announcing their intentions to recognise a Palestinian state at a United Nations summit next month. 

Last week, Smotrich declared that any state which “tries to recognise a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground,” not in the form of documents or statements, but through the building of “houses, neighbourhoods [and] roads”.

'The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions'

- Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister 

He repeated that idea on Wednesday, stating: “The time has come to forever put the idea of dividing the land on the back burner and ensure that by September the hypocritical leaders in Europe will have nothing to recognise.”

The E1 project seeks to cut off Palestinian communities between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, which includes a historic area known as al-Bariyah, or "the Wilderness of Jerusalem", which Palestine submitted to Unesco's tentative list of heritage sites. 

“This also means that the main historical route that has existed for more than 3,000 years - the road Jesus took from Jericho to Jerusalem - is going to be totally closed for the Palestinians,” Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, told Middle East Eye last week.

The isolation of East Jerusalem from parts of the West Bank will force Palestinians to take lengthy detours to travel between several cities and towns. 

The plan has been likened to fragmenting occupied Palestine into “Bantustans”, a reference to Black-only ghettos created across apartheid South Africa. 

“Hebron and Bethlehem will become another Gaza - a strip isolated from the West Bank. Ramallah will be the same,” Juma said. 

Apartheid road

In March, Israel’s political-security cabinet approved a separate road for Palestinians south of the E1 area, linking the northern and southern West Bank.  

The road was viewed as a preparatory step to expanding settlement construction in the area. 

'The Israeli government is openly announcing apartheid'

- Aviv Tatarsky, Israeli rights group Ir Amim

Under the plan, Palestinian traffic would be rerouted away from Route 1 - the main highway connecting Jerusalem to Maale Adumim - reserving it primarily for Israeli use.

“The Israeli government is openly announcing apartheid,” said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at Israeli rights group Ir Amim.

“It explicitly states that the E1 plans were approved to ‘bury’ the two-state solution and to entrench de facto sovereignty. An immediate consequence could be the uprooting of more than a dozen Palestinian communities living in the E1 area.”

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live in roughly 300 illegal settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all of which have been built since Israel seized the territories in the 1967 Middle East war.

Under international law, settlement construction in an occupied territory is illegal.