Israel approves major settlement project dividing occupied West Bank, isolating East Jerusalem

Israel has given final approval to a highly contested settlement project that would divide the occupied West Bank and isolate East Jerusalem.

The Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, a department under Israel’s Defense Ministry, approved the so-called E1 project, which includes the building of more than 3,400 settler homes between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank, The Times of Israel news outlet said.

The project aims to split the occupied West Bank into two parts, cutting off the northern cities of Ramallah and Nablus from Bethlehem and Hebron in the south, and isolating East Jerusalem.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the decision “historic.”

“This is a significant step that practically erases the two-state delusion and consolidates the Jewish people’s hold on the heart of the Land of Israel,” he said.

“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not by slogans but by deeds. Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”

According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the Settlement Subcommittee of the Civil Administration also advanced a plan for building 342 more units in Asahel settlement between east and west Mount Hebron.

Peace Now, an Israeli rights group, has described the E1 settlement project as a “knockout blow” to the two-state solution, warning that it would bisect the West Bank and further isolate East Jerusalem.

Observers say the renewed push for the project appears to be a response to recent announcements by countries, including the UK, France, and Australia, that they intend to recognize Palestinian statehood during the UN General Assembly meetings in September.

The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law. The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution, a framework seen as key to resolving the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israel has built at least 710 settlements and military outposts in the occupied West Bank, an average of one settlement every 8 square kilometers (3 square miles), since 1967.

Palestinians stress that East Jerusalem remains the capital of their future state, citing international resolutions that reject Israel’s 1967 occupation and subsequent annexation of the city in 1980.

Since the start of the second year of the Israeli war in Gaza in October 2023, at least 1,014 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.