As the world recognizes a Palestinian state, Israel’s E1 plan moves to bury it
On the scorched hills to the east of Jerusalem, the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim spreads outward, casting a long shadow over the bustling Palestinian town of Ezariyah. These are the hills where Israel is set to break ground on its E1 settlement bloc, carving the West Bank in two in a bid to erase the possibility of a Palestinian state once and for all.
If realized, the Israeli plan to build 3,400 new settlement homes — which was given final government approval in August, after being stalled for decades in the face of international pushback — would physically cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, fragmenting Palestinian communities and making the idea of a contiguous state nearly impossible.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not by slogans but by deeds,” proclaimed Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advanced the project, after its approval. And yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added his official signature to the plan at a symbolic ceremony inside Ma’ale Adumim. “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state; this place belongs to us,” he declared.
Last week, Smotrich went further, unveiling a plan to annex 82 percent of the West Bank into Israel that would leave only six fragmented Palestinian population centers — Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, Jericho, and Hebron — as isolated bantustans. “Preventing a Palestinian state is an Israeli consensus,” read a statement attached to a map of the plan, which was emblazoned with the Israeli Defense Ministry logo.
Smotrich has framed the decision to move forward with construction in E1 as retaliation to the recent announcements by Western states, among them Australia, Canada, and France, that they plan to recognize Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. The United Kingdom has said it will do so conditionally, if Israel fails to meet criteria that include agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.
But for many Palestinians, including Omar Abu Zuhour, who owns three kiosks at the entrance to Ezariyah, this wave of official recognition means nothing. His kiosks, like many other businesses and homes near the town’s entrance, are now facing demolition to clear the way for a new road Israel is set to build as part of the E1 plan. [Continue reading…]