Ramallah / PNN /
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has approved plans to build thousands of settlement units in the controversial “E1” area east of Jerusalem, a move critics say undermines the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state, fragments its population, and consolidates Israeli control over the West Bank.
The Palestinian Presidency, through spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned the settlement plans as illegal under international law, specifically citing UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which deems all Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza unlawful. The Presidency held the Israeli government responsible for the escalating violations and called on the U.S. administration to halt what it described as Israeli “lawlessness.”
What is the E1 settlement plan?
According to a briefing by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the Israeli government approved the E1 plan (No. 4/420) in 1999, covering approximately 12,000 dunams, most of which were declared “state lands” and later incorporated into the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.
In 2012, Israel approved detailed sub-plans under the E1 framework:
Plan 2/4/420: Seizing 1,350 dunams to establish an industrial zone northwest of E1.
Plan 9/4/420: Taking 180 dunams for an Israeli police headquarters, aimed at expanding control.
A 500-dunam area from Anata and Shuafat for a landfill, later to be converted into a settler park.
Three construction plans: Plan 10/4/420 for 2,176 settlement units; Plan 3/4/420 for 256 units plus 2,152 hotel rooms; Plan 7/10/420 for 1,250 units and a Torah-themed park northwest of the site.
Additionally, the “Living Fabric Road” plan, partially completed near the separation wall east of Anata and proposed to extend toward Al-Azariya, aims to facilitate development in E1 and restrict Palestinian access.
Objectives of the E1 project
Sever Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and disrupt geographic continuity needed for a viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Divide the West Bank into isolated areas controlled by Israel.
Expand East Jerusalem’s boundaries by incorporating Ma’ale Adumim.
Displace Bedouin communities in eastern West Bank and Jordan Valley areas.
Increase the Jewish population in Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian residents, following prior evictions from neighborhoods like Kafr Aqab, Anata, and Shuafat.
Forced Bedouin displacement
The forced displacement of Bedouin communities continues patterns established in 1948 and 1967. Israeli authorities aim to evict 46 Bedouin villages in the eastern West Bank and Jordan Valley (partly executed after October 7, 2023) to advance settlement and Judaization policies over roughly one million dunams. Attempts to relocate communities to areas like Al-Jabal in Al-Azariya, Al-Nuwe’ma, and central Jericho were largely unsuccessful due to community resistance.
Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc
Ma’ale Adumim is one of the largest Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank. Israel plans to annex it to Jerusalem under the “Greater Jerusalem” scheme, which also targets the Givat Zeev bloc to the north and Gush Etzion bloc to the south. Linking these settlements aims to integrate them into Jerusalem while isolating historically Palestinian neighborhoods.
Plans include building an 800-dunam leisure city with parks, an artificial lake, sports fields, hotels, and a new settlement neighborhood, Misferet Adumim, with more than 3,000 housing units. Authorities also intend to link Kedar settlement to Ma’ale Adumim and expand construction between the two.
Impact on Palestinian continuity
According to B’Tselem, the implementation of E1 plans would connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem, further isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and disrupting geographic continuity between northern and southern West Bank areas.
The settlements violate international humanitarian law, which prohibits the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory and forbids permanent alterations to the area. The construction also endangers Palestinian human rights, particularly the eviction of Bedouin communities residing there.
Affected populations
The E1 development threatens the entire West Bank. East Jerusalem is adjacent to the narrowest part of the West Bank, only 28 kilometers wide. Construction in E1 would further narrow the corridor connecting the north and south, making a contiguous Palestinian state increasingly difficult.
While the settlements occupy “closed military zones,” Palestinian private lands would remain fenced and surrounded by settlement development, raising concerns over access for owners and cultivation. The plan would encircle East Jerusalem from the east and integrate Israeli neighborhoods north of the Old City.
East Jerusalem historically served as an urban center for West Bank Palestinians, but Israeli restrictions have created an artificial separation that will deepen under E1 construction, further isolating the city from the rest of the West Bank.
