Palestinian Presidency Warns of Danger of Occupation Proposing New E1 Settlement Plans

Ramallah, September 17 (KUNA) -- The Palestinian Presidency warned today, Thursday, of the dangers posed by the occupation authorities’ plans to build 3,701 settlement units in the E1 area east of occupied Jerusalem, stressing that these steps constitute an escalation and a violation of international law and legitimacy.

In a press statement published by the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa), Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, “The occupation authorities’ continuation of issuing tenders in the E1 area confirms that the occupation government is determined to impose a colonial fait accompli on the ground, in clear defiance of the international community and of international positions and resolutions rejecting settlement.”

Abu Rudeineh added that “the E1 plan threatens the territorial integrity and geographic contiguity of Palestinian land, imposing new facts aimed at undermining the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, thereby making the continuation of this colonial policy a direct threat to efforts aimed at achieving stability in the region.”

He affirmed that Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal under international law and United Nations resolutions, foremost among them Security Council Resolution 2334, which confirmed the illegality of settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since 1967.

He stressed that these Israeli measures cannot grant the occupation any right or legitimacy in Palestinian land, and that the policy of imposing a fait accompli will not create a new legal reality, nor will it change the fact that the occupied Palestinian territories remain subject to the rules of international law.

For its part, the Jerusalem Governorate said in a press statement that the occupation authorities intend to open the bidding process for the construction of 2,167 new settlement units under the E1 project on the 25th of next month, clarifying that the occupation’s Ministry of Construction and Housing updated the tender schedule last week and set the 25th of next month as the deadline for submitting bids.

This tender follows another one issued by the occupation authorities on the 18th of last month for the construction of 1,234 settlement units under the same project, bringing the total number of units offered to 3,401, which represents all the units approved under the project’s plans.

According to the Jerusalem Governorate’s statement, the plan stipulates construction in the strategic corridor separating Jerusalem from the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, which would merge Jerusalem with the settlement and turn them into a single urban mass.

The governorate explained that the plan would sever geographic connectivity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank and paralyze the possibility of developing a contiguous Palestinian urban axis linking the cities of Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem.

The project’s idea dates back to the 1990s but was delayed due to international objections. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revived it in 2012 in response to Palestine’s acquisition of non-member observer state status at the United Nations.

In 2020, the project was revived as part of the peace plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. In the past two years, the project has gained renewed momentum under the far-right government, which considers settlement and the annexation of the West Bank as non-negotiable strategic goals. (End) N.Q./M.N.F.