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Israel’s finance minister is reviving plans for a long-shelved settlement expansion outside Jerusalem, promising that it will “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.
The proposed block of about 3,000 houses, known colloquially as the E1 Plan, has been repeatedly floated by successive rightwing Israeli governments and shelved after fierce international opposition.
But far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich — who also has some authority in the ministry of defence, which oversees Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories — vowed last night to fast-track the plan.
The plan is designed to split East Jerusalem — which Palestinians claim for their proposed capital — from the occupied West Bank, by building what would essentially amount to a new neighbourhood in the already sprawling Ma’ale Adumim settlement, which lies between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
That would place a large block of Jewish-Israeli housing — which in the West Bank comes with security perimeters that extend far beyond the settlement itself — between the major Palestinian cities of Bethlehem and Ramallah, dividing the West Bank into northern and southern sections.
“This is Zionism at its best — building, settling, and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said in a statement.
Israeli governments stretching back to the 1970s have used Jewish settlements to strengthen their hold over the West Bank, wrested from Jordan in the 1967 war.
But Israel’s current government is racing to approve as many as it can in strategic locations along the West Bank to splinter the territory and foil building international pressure for a Palestinian state.
More than a dozen countries, including the UK, France and Canada, have indicated their intention to recognise a Palestinian state in September, when the UN General Assembly is set to meet.
“Those who try to recognise a Palestinian state will receive from us an answer on the ground,” said Smotrich at a press conference near the proposed site on Thursday.
“This reality [will] finally bury the idea of a Palestinian state . . . and ensure that by September, the hypocritical leaders in Europe will have nothing to recognise.”
Defence minister Israel Katz announced 22 new settlements in late May, which he said would “prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state”.
“The Israeli government is openly announcing apartheid,” warned Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israeli NGO Ir Amim. “It explicitly states that the E1 plans were approved to ‘bury’ the two-state solution and to entrench de facto sovereignty.”
Building settlements in occupied territory is illegal under international law, as is the transfer of civilian populations, including in order to change the ethnic balance of an occupied region.
Israel has flouted that law repeatedly, the International Court of Justice ruled last July. Other than the US under the Trump administrations, most countries oppose Israel’s settlement expansions.
More than 700,000 Jews live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in more than 100 settlements, nestled strategically between 3mn Palestinians. The settlements range from large commuter towns connected to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv with major highways to far-flung outposts of a few dozen houses protected by large military contingents.
The E1 Plan has to pass through major bureaucratic and political hurdles before construction can begin. But Peace Now, the Israeli advocacy group that tracks the approvals process, warned on Thursday that Smotrich had fast-tracked the procedure, setting up a crucial meeting for next week.
If he moves quickly to overcome the hurdles, construction could begin within a year, Peace Now said, adding: “We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed.”
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