Israel Greenlights E1 Settlements, Publishes Tenders for Construction in Ma’ale Adumim

Last night, August 13, the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council published the decision from its August 6 session: to approvae the first two E1 settlement plans, E1-South and E1-East. Together, these plans comprise 3,410 housing units.

Following the approval, Minister Smotrich announced:

“The approval of the building plans in E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are advancing on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan we began implementing with the formation of the government.” (Translated from the original Hebrew.)

As reported in a previous alert, Higher Planning Council convened on August 6 to discuss the state’s responses to objections brought against plan. The objections were submitted by Palestinian municipalities within the E1 area and Israeli human rights NGOs. The committee rejected the objectors’ demand that the session—which was convened hastily and with short notice—not take place, and that the review process be restarted due to the many changes that have taken place in the four years since objections to the plan had been presented to the committee.

Following the decision published yesterday, the Higher Planning Council is scheduled to grant the plan’s statutory approval on August 20.

In parallel to announcing the E1 settlement plans approval yesterday, the Israeli Land Authority also published tenders for the construction of 3,300 housing units to the south of E1, in an area connecting the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and the nearby Mishor Adumim Industrial Area. This too is, of course, part of Israeli de facto annexation actions.

See “New Tenders” marked on the map below.

Implications of the Approval of the E1 Settlements’ Plans

For decades, Israel refrained from approving the E1 settlement plans due to the international community’s understanding that construction in E1 runs against the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state. Today, it is clear that the implications of the approval are even more far-reaching than that. We can clearly see that the proposed plan will serve to facilitate:

The government program of Apartheid – Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s declaration, quoted above, makes it clear that the E1 settlements are part of an Israeli program to prevent any possibility of ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state through implementing strategic actions of de facto annexation. This can only be interpreted as the Israeli government choosing an Apartheid reality in the West Bank.

Uprooting thousands of Palestinians in dozens of communities – Part and parcel of the Israeli de facto annexation plan is the expulsion of Palestinians from areas it targets for annexation. Currently, thousands of Palestinians live in dozens of small communities—some of the most vulnerable under Israeli occupation—who suffer from both settler and state violence. It is highly likely that Israeli authorities will act to uproot these communities even before construction in E1 begins. Indeed, in the past 10 days the Israeli Civil Administration has distributed dozens of orders targeting mostly commercial structures in the vicinity of the E1 area.

Closing off a central part of the Jerusalem metropolis to Palestinians – Implementation of the E1 plans includes construction of a new road which will divert Palestinian traffic from the E1–Ma’ale Adumim area. Once constructed, Israel intends to move the checkpoint from its current location—near the A-Za’yim village—eastward of the Kfar Adumim settlement to a location 14 kilometers east of the Green Line. This will close off a huge area deep in the heart of the West Bank to Palestinians.

An unsustainable reality leading to greater violence – This Apartheid spatial design of the West Bank will also cause a rapid and severe deterioration in economic and social conditions in the small enclaves to which Israel aims to push the Palestinian population. This will be an extremely volatile reality, which Israeli authorities will doubtless weaponize for further unraveling of Palestinian existence in the West Bank.