RAMALLAH: The Palestinian presidency on Thursday warned that Israel’s E1 settlement project and wider escalation in the occupied West Bank risk pushing the region “out of control.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned Israel’s move to open bidding for construction in the controversial E1 settlement.
He said Israel’s continued settlement policies and escalating settler violence were trapping the region in “an endless cycle of wars,” Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. that
He called on the international community to move beyond statements of condemnation and take “serious, concrete measures” to halt Israeli settlement activity and uphold international law.
The warning comes after the Israeli government on Aug. 18 opened bidding for the construction of 1,234 housing units in E1, about a third of the 3,401 homes approved for the project. Bids are due by Oct. 19, just over a week before Israel’s Oct. 27 election.
The plan, widely seen as jeopardizing the viability of a future Palestinian state, has drawn international condemnation. It comes amid a rapid settlement expansion under the current right-wing Israeli government of Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu.
E1 is a roughly 12-square-kilometer tract of occupied West Bank land east of Jerusalem, between the city and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. Construction would further isolate occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank and effectively divide the West Bank between north and south, separating Bethlehem and Hebron from population centers including Ramallah and Nablus.
The project includes housing, roads and commercial and industrial areas designed to connect Israeli settlements in and around East Jerusalem with settlements deeper in the West Bank.
Abu Rudeineh said partial initiatives lacking a genuine political horizon would not bring stability, reiterating that lasting peace could only be achieved by ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by the latest move and urged Israel to refrain from taking further steps.
Guterres called on Israel to comply with relevant UN resolutions and a July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful and said settlement activity must cease.
The tender has triggered condemnation across the Arab world and Europe.
The Arab League on Thursday warned that E1 would divide Palestinian territory and further isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, undermining the prospect of a two-state solution.
"E1 corridor" northeast of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank shows vehicles moving along a highway near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim (top). (File/AFP)
Egypt similarly said the project would undermine prospects for establishing a geographically contiguous Palestinian state, while Jordan described the tender as a violation of international law and the Palestinian right to self-determination.
Britain, France, Germany and Italy have also condemned the move. Britain summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires and demanded that the government withdraw the tender, while Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said London would announce further measures in the coming weeks targeting those involved in settlement expansion.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected the British criticism on Thursday, saying Israel had a right to build in the area and accusing London of damaging bilateral relations.
The project also threatens Palestinian Bedouin communities in the area.
Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that more than 18 Bedouin communities face forcible displacement if E1 proceeds. Among them is Khan Al-Ahmar, a community of about 250 Palestinians that has faced repeated threats of demolition and eviction.
