Controversial project that would split West Bank into north and south has been frozen for decades due to international pressure; settler leader hails ‘great and historical achievement’
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday that he plans to approve tenders to build more than 3,000 housing units in the highly controversial E1 settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank, saying the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The project has been frozen for decades amid fierce opposition from the international community, who fear the new settlement neighborhood would prevent the establishment of a contiguous, viable Palestinian state.
“Approval of construction plans in E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are taking on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan that we began implementing with the establishment of the government,” Smotrich said in a statement.
The potential construction of a new neighborhood for the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the so-called E1 zone has long been cause for alarm in the international community. It would divide the West Bank into northern and southern regions and prevent the development of a Palestinian metropolis that connects East Jerusalem to Bethlehem and Ramallah, which the Palestinians have long hoped would serve as the foundation of their future state.
However, according to the Peace Now settlement watchdog, the approved plans are not for the original E1 proposal, but rather a separate neighborhood of Ma’ale Adumim.
“The 3,300 housing units in Ma’ale Adumim represent an increase of about 33% in the settlement’s housing stock — an enormous expansion for a settlement whose population has been stagnant at around 38,000 for the past decade and has experienced net out-migration. The tenders are for a large neighborhood that will connect Ma’ale Adumim’s built-up area with the industrial zone to its east,” Peace Now said.
In a statement, Israel Gantz, chair of the Yesha settler umbrella group, applauded the measure as “another great and historical achievement for the settlement on the eve of the application of sovereignty,” thanking Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ma’ale Adumim Mayor Guy Yifrach said that the “Palestinians sought to create a chokehold through illegal construction, and building the neighborhood will defeat their goal.”
In March, the security cabinet approved the construction of the “Fabric of Life” Palestinian-only bypass road in the Jerusalem area in a bid to separate Israeli and Palestinian traffic and entrench Israel’s presence beyond the Green Line.
Hailing that move, the Prime Minister’s Office said that it would reduce congestion on the road between the capital and Ma’ale Adumim and boost Israeli construction in E1.
