Israel approved the controversial E1 colony project on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank. It provides for the construction of 3,400 dwellings on 12 km² east of Jerusalem. This area would connect the colony of Maalé Adoumim to the city, cutting Palestinian territory in two and threatening the continuity of a future Palestinian state.
“I am happy to announce that there is barely an hour, the civil administration has approved planning for the construction of the E1 district! “Said Guy Yifrah, mayor of the Israeli colony. 20 Minutes takes stock of this extremely controversial project.
Why does this project worry so much?
For the Palestinian Authority, E1 constitutes “a colonization crime” which “anchors the division of the occupied West Bank in areas and isolated cantons, geographically disconnected and resembling real prisons”. The inhabitants, mainly Bedouins, received the order to evacuate their houses, without guarantee of rehousing, explains The world.
Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Israeli Finance and figure in the far right, confirmed that the project was aimed at the Palestinian State “erased, not by slogans, but by actions. “Also adding:” there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize “, according to Humanity. According to the NGO IR AMIM, the plan is preparing “the annexation of the West Bank and the expulsion of its inhabitants”, a step towards what it describes as “an apartheid diet”.
How did the international community react?
The international community reacted strongly. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recalls that “the Israeli colonies in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, violate international law” and that E1 “constitutes an existential threat for the solution to two states”. The European Union and several governments, including France and the United Kingdom, denounce the project. King Abdallah II of Jordan stressed that “the two -state solution [était] The only way to reach a just and global peace ”.
What does this project show?
The E1 project is an escalation in colonization. Israeli colonization and occupation in the West Bank have been intensifying since 1967, but it is a turning point. The construction of a continuous line of colonies will make communications between the north and the south of the West Bank even more difficult and will accentuate the isolation of the Palestinians. Israeli justice, despite the appeals filed, remains unclely to protect the inhabitants threatened with expulsion and expropriation, notes The world.
With this decision, Israel therefore takes a new stage in its colonization project, to the detriment of the prospects of a Palestinian state and in a context of increased tension between local populations, settlers and army. In parallel, Tel Aviv launched its operation to conquer and occupy Gaza.