'Openly announcing apartheid': Israel advances East Jerusalem settlement plan

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says move aimed at 'burying' idea of Palestinian state

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has advanced plans to build a settlement in the E1 area surrounding East Jerusalem and derail the creation of a Palestinian state.

The minister said on Thursday he would approve tenders for more than 3,000 housing units, effectively splitting the occupied West Bank in two.

He said the goal was to “bury” the prospect of Palestinian statehood, with campaigners calling the plan an explicit embrace of apartheid.

Although several bureaucratic hurdles remain, officials say infrastructure work could begin within months, with construction starting in about a year.

The announcement came shortly after Australia joined France, the UK and Canada in pledging to recognise Palestine as a state in September.

“This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,” Mr Smotrich said. “Anyone in the world who tries today to recognise a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground.

“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."

E1 would fall between the Palestinian village of Al Zaim and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, one of the biggest in the occupied West Bank. It would deal a huge blow to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

E1 would expand the separation barrier that cuts the city off from the West Bank, undermining sovereignty, freedom of movement and the economy of a future Palestine.

The project has been frozen for decades due to condemnation by the international community.

The Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem. AFP

Embracing apartheid

Israeli NGO Peace Now, which monitors the development of settlements, calls E1 “particularly devastating for the prospects of peace and the future of a two-state solution, as it would cut the West Bank in two and prevent the development of the metropolitan area between Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem”.

Jordan condemned Mr Smotrich, calling the move "an aggression on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital."

“The Israeli government is openly announcing apartheid,” said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at NGO Ir Amim. “It explicitly states that the E1 plans were approved to ‘bury’ the two-state solution and to entrench de facto sovereignty.

“States now working to recognise a Palestinian state should understand that Israel is undeterred by diplomatic gestures or condemnations. If they are serious about the prospect of peace, they must take concrete action.”

Qatar also rejected Israel's expansion of settlements and the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, "which aim to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state", its Foreign Ministry said.

Egypt criticised the plan, saying it "reflects the Israeli government's insistence on expanding its seizure of Palestinian lands and altering the demographic status of the territories it occupies", its Foreign Ministry said.

"This is a blatant violation of international law, relevant Security Council resolutions and international conventions."

A US State Department representative said only that "a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration's goal to achieve peace in the region", when asked about Mr Smotrich's plan.

The idea for E1 originated in the 1990s and reflects the long-term Israeli desire to expand settlements despite international objections. A more specific purpose of E1 is to connect Maale Adumim, currently separated from the outskirts of East Jerusalem, with the city.

Significant international opposition, including from the US, proved effective in blocking it, even as settlement expansion continued elsewhere in the occupied West Bank.

Since the Israel-Gaza war broke out on October 7, 2023, the wider settlement project has been in the ascendancy, including E1. Record numbers of Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli settlers who have access to more arms and enjoy greater impunity than before from the government and authorities.

On Wednesday, an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian in the West Bank, the latest in a string of attacks by the Israeli army and settlers.

Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's army and its settlers in the West Bank since October 2023, UN figures have said.

Israel last year launched operation Iron Wall in the north of the occupied West Bank where more than 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced. Israeli forces have fired at people attempting to return home, the UN has said.