Terrifying Numbers: Smotrich revives controversial E1 project over Palestine

Al Bawaba

2 days ago

Published August 15th, 2025 - 10:09 GMT
ALBAWABA - An expert on Israeli settlement issues has said that the "E1" settlement plan, which was recently brought back to life by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will split up the West Bank and cut Jerusalem off from the rest of the country.
As part of the E1 project, Smotrich gave the go-ahead for the building of thousands of housing homes east of Jerusalem. This was strongly opposed by the Palestinian Authority, which has asked the rest of the world to step in and stop it. The return of an old project
Abdel Hadi Hantash, an expert on land and settlement issues, told Erem News that "this is an old project that has finally been put into action after disagreements between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Smotrich about how to carry it out."Hantash said that the plan is to build 4,000 settlement units, as well as restaurants, public buildings, and other types of infrastructure, close to Jerusalem's Ma'ale Adumim settlement.In terms of what it means, he said that the project's goal is to physically remove Jerusalem from the West Bank and to divide the West Bank into two different parts, one in the north and one in the south. Jerusalem is the only land connection between the two.
He said that the plan would take away a lot of Palestinian land and build three big Israeli towns next to each other. These settlements are Ma'ale Adumim, Kfar Adumim, and Mishor Adumim. Part of a bigger plan
Hantash said that this action would mean taking away more than 12,000 dunams, which is about 3,000 acres, of Palestinian land. "This is a dangerous project," he said. "It's part of a much bigger plan to bring one million settlers to the West Bank and build 100,000 settlement units."
Hantash said that the plan would stop the creation of a Palestinian state, break up the geographical connection between Palestinian governorates in the West Bank, and stop Palestinian towns from growing horizontally on land they own.
He said that the number of settlements in the West Bank is always going up because many new outposts are being built, especially in the southern province of Hebron, and many of these outposts are becoming legal and joining up with other settlements. An even worsening water crisis
Hantash also talked about the water problem caused by Israeli settlements. He said, "Israel takes 52% of the West Bank's water and puts it in areas it controls. It gives 32% of the West Bank's water to settlers in different outposts, and the Palestinians get less than 16% of the water production."
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