Photo credit: France 24
Israel has given final approval for a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory into two.
BBC reports that construction in the E1 area has been frozen for two decades amid fierce international opposition. Critics warn it would put an end to hopes for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.
On Wednesday, a defence ministry committee approved plans for 3,400 homes in E1. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said the idea of a Palestinian state was “being erased.”
But predictably, the Palestinian Authority condemned the move, saying it was illegal and would “destroy” the prospects for a two-state nation.
It follows declarations by a growing number of nations of their intention to recognise a Palestinian state, which Israel has condemned.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. Meanwhile, the Palestinians want the land and Gaza for a future Palestinian state. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside the Jews.
The settlements are illegal under international law. The position was supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice last year.
The plans were approved by the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council. The defence ministry body also approved 342 units in the new settlement of Asael.
Smotrich said, “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.
“Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
Critics of the E1 project have warned that it would effectively block the establishment of a Palestinian state because it would cut off the north of the West Bank from the south, and prevent the development in the centre of a contiguous Palestinian urban area connecting Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, Hamas formally agreed last week to a series of concessions in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Drop Site News reports that Israel has not responded to the proposed agreement for an initial 60-day ceasefire drafted by Egypt and Qatar. Instead, it moved forward with a mobilisation of 60,000 reserve troops in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised would be a massive invasion of Gaza City aimed at ethnically cleansing nearly a million Palestinians from the north of the enclave
Among the concessions Hamas made was dropping its demand that Israel withdraw entirely from the Philadelphi corridor running along the border with Egypt in southern Gaza. Hamas also agreed to remove language that would have prevented the US and Israeli-imposed “aid” scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) from remaining in Gaza after a ceasefire went into effect.
