Overview
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he will approve about 3,300 housing units in the E1 corridor, calling the move a burial for the idea of a Palestinian state.
- Israel’s Housing Ministry issued six tenders for a total of 4,030 settlement homes, allocating roughly 3,300 units to Ma’ale Adumim and 730 near Ariel.
- Planners say the E1 development will link Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem, sever Palestinian northern and southern regions and make a contiguous Palestinian state unviable.
- Senior settlement figures including Yesha Council chairman Israel Gantz and Ma’ale Adumim mayor Guy Yifrach hailed the approvals as milestones in strengthening Israeli sovereignty.
- Palestinian officials, international observers and watchdog Peace Now described the expansion as illegal under international law and warned it would further undermine two-state prospects.