Israel Advances Controversial West Bank Settlement Expansion Amid Global Scrutiny
In response to international pressure, Israel delayed a meeting about the controversial E1 construction plan in the West Bank, but it is moving forward nonetheless with plans for at least 4,000 new housing units in existing settlements
Israel is continuing efforts to build and expand settlements in the West Bank despite global scrutiny over the legality of the construction.
On Monday, Axios reported that the Israeli government was planning to construct at least 4,000 housing units in existing settlements across the West Bank. The plans will be officially announced later this month, Israeli and US officials told Axios. A spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment to The Media Line.
The Biden Administration has been pressuring Israel to abandon its plans for West Bank settlement expansion entirely. That pressure resulted in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu postponing a meeting scheduled for this week meant to advance the controversial construction of new settlements in the E1 area of the West Bank.
The E1 area is a 4.6-square-mile plot of land located between East Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. An Israeli government plan to construct housing in the E1 area was first proposed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s, but the planned construction has been frozen on and off since then due to international opposition. Israeli construction in the E1 area could cut off vital access points between the northern and southern sections of the West Bank, which Palestinians view as crucial in a future plan to establish their own state.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told The Media Line that the proposed construction would not pose a problem for negotiations with the Palestinians, instead pointing to the Palestinian leadership as the obstacle hampering peace talks.
“The Palestinians have decided once again: Every time there is an opportunity to achieve peace, they prefer terrorism over a peaceful solution,” Haiat said.
The Palestinian people pay daily heavy prices as a result of the … racist colonial settler occupation in their homeland
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry of the Palestinian Authority told The Media Line that the construction of settlements in the West Bank violated international law.
“The Palestinian people pay daily heavy prices as a result of the … racist colonial settler occupation in their homeland,” the statement read. It added that Israeli settlements harm “Palestinian citizens, their economy, their mobility, and their ability to stand firm in their homeland.”
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The construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been widely condemned by the international community. Speaking at a White House press briefing Monday, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby underscored the Biden Administration’s opposition to settlement expansion.
“We have long made clear our concerns about additional settlements in the West Bank, that we don’t want to see actions taken that are going to make a two-state solution that much more difficult to achieve,” Kirby said.
The Palestinians, unfortunately, have been commandeered by a leadership that doesn’t want peace with Israel. They want peace without Israel.
Despite international condemnation, the Israeli government appears committed to advancing its settlement plans. In an interview with the British Sky News channel last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israelis have a right to build in and move into the West Bank, describing the region as “part of our ancestral homeland.”
“The Palestinians, unfortunately, have been commandeered by a leadership that doesn’t want peace with Israel. They want peace without Israel,” Netanyahu told Sky News. “That is the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize a Jewish state in any border.”
Some critics say that Netanyahu’s support for settlement expansion is part of an attempt to satisfy his new far-right coalition.
After losing the role of prime minister in 2021, Netanyahu again came to power in December 2022 by forming a coalition with several right-wing and far-right parties in the Knesset. This coalition has attempted to implement controversial policies such as the much-debated judicial reforms proposed in January. Those reforms have been put on hold following months of protests in Israel.
Peace Now, an Israeli pro-two-state organization that tracks settlement expansion, told The Media Line it has no expectations of the current Israeli government when it comes to creating a basis for peace negotiations.
Their view is one apartheid state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea
“Their view is one apartheid state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” the organization said of the Netanyahu government in a statement.
While Peace Now and other critics of settlement expansion say that continued settlement construction would foreclose a two-state solution, proponents say it’s necessary to ensure the security of Jews currently living in settlements throughout the West Bank, and that peace negotiations are improbable regardless.
The reality of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people living particularly in the settlement blocs is something that needs to be recognized
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security Vice President Eran Lerman told The Media Line that the security of settlers in the West Bank was threatened by the increasingly powerless PA, which had little incentive to cooperate or negotiate with Israel.
“The reality of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people living particularly in the settlement blocs is something that needs to be recognized,” Lerman said. “We believe that conflict resolution is not in the cards for the foreseeable future.”
Currently, the PA is not “a partner that can be relied upon,” he added.
For now, the Israeli government is pushing forward plans to construct and expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel’s allies have been clear in their rebuke, but given his new and unstable coalition, Netanyahu may determine that the political popularity of moving forward with settlement expansion outweighs the international opposition.
Patrick Doyle is a recent graduate of San Diego State University and an intern in The Media Line’s Press and Policy Student Program.
