JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities have approved a major settlement construction project in the sensitive E1 area of the occupied West Bank.
The international community has repeatedly warned that building in this territory threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.
Israel has long pursued ambitions to develop the approximately 12 square kilometres known as E1 located just east of Jerusalem.
This controversial plan had remained stalled for years due to widespread international opposition.
Critics argue the settlement would destroy hopes for a contiguous Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently endorsed plans to construct approximately 3,400 homes on this ultrasensitive land parcel between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim settlement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Israeli construction there would “put an end to” hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Maale Adumim Mayor Guy Yifrach announced the approval in a statement saying “I am pleased to announce that just a short while ago, the civil administration approved the planning for the construction of the E1 neighbourhood.”
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, remain illegal under international law regardless of Israeli planning permission.
Researcher Aviv Tatarsky from Israeli anti-settlement organisation Ir Amim stated “Today’s approval demonstrates how determined Israel is in pursuing what Minister Smotrich has described as a strategic programme to bury the possibility of a Palestinian state and to effectively annex the West Bank.”
He added “This is a conscious Israeli choice to implement an apartheid regime” while calling for urgent international measures against the move.
Israeli monitoring group Peace Now indicated last week that infrastructure work in E1 could commence within months with housing construction starting within about one year.
The West Bank excluding east Jerusalem contains approximately three million Palestinians alongside about 500,000 Israeli settlers. – AFP