E1 settlement plan will doom Palestine. It must be stopped
This comes as a thuggish response to the growing list of nations that have decided to recognise the state of Palestine. In the minds of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, developing E1 will deal a death blow to the idea of a Palestinian state.
E1 is one of the few areas on Jerusalem's eastern periphery that is not covered in Jewish settlements. It is home to a towering Israeli police headquarters, along with a few humble Bedouin communities. Its development would drive a wedge through the heart of the occupied West Bank, separating north from south, while closing off the last relatively open route for Palestinians there to access East Jerusalem's holy sites, tourism revenues, hospitals and transport systems.
International law, which recognises the 1967 Green Line as the border around Palestinian territory, would be ignored by Israel, as ever.
The latest stage of the Greater Jerusalem plan is thus being put into effect - a wedge that will Judaise the land from Tel Aviv to Jordan, as settlers in the Old City of Jerusalem increase their presence, aiming to deny Palestinian self-determination.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
'House by house' was always the strategy of the right-wing settler movement; today, the land grabs and demolitions of Palestinian homes are proceeding at rates never before seen.
With a silent or complicit US administration - Mike Huckabee, the Christian Zionist ambassador to Israel, maintains E1 development is not a violation of international law - the Israeli government is giving the finger to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled in July 2024 that Israel must cease its occupation.
International pressure
The ICJ ruling noted: 'The Court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
'The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel's presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.'
In the face of Israel's blatant defiance, and to end the barbaric assault on Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza, the international community must now - finally - take steps to ensure its compliance with international law.
Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war
Israel must be pressured to abide by its obligations under the Geneva Conventions, in order to end the impunity that is destroying not only the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, but also the futures of both peoples.
In the past, international pressure was successful in delaying plans to populate E1 with illegal Jewish settlements. But the minor embargoes and minimal sanctions we're seeing today are not enough to dent Israeli impunity. On the contrary, pro-Palestine activists are being arrested and attacked, both here in Israel and abroad.
Jerusalem is the crown jewel for the messianic forces driving the agenda in Israel. Many, especially Christian Zionist supporters of Israel's far right, seek the 'rapture' and 'end of days'. They aren't interested in peace. They defy ancient Jewish values centred on Psalm 34:14: 'Seek peace and pursue it.'
War on Gaza: Zionist land-grabbing strategy will never achieve peace Read More »
So, with the world's eyes justifiably on Gaza, the doomsday scenario formulated by uber-nationalist Israeli ministers, such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, necessitates eternal war - along with inevitable cycles of revenge, fear, hatred and pain, while reducing Palestine to a series of heavily securitised bantustans.
The settlement of E1 also means forcible displacement into slums for thousands of Bedouin people in the Jerusalem periphery. Many were expelled in 1948 from the Naqab desert. They are already suffering from armed settler violence and military control, disrupting their traditions of pastoral, semi-nomadic subsistence.
Former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat once referred to these Bedouin communities as the 'gatekeepers of Jerusalem'. Their knowledge of desert life and culture is an essential tool, particularly as the world grapples with increasingly high temperatures - including the threat of 50C summers within a few decades in Israel, making life almost unbearable for many.
Denying Bedouin communities the freedom to live modestly in the desert is a decision that will haunt us and our children, especially when there are no teachers left with knowledge of how to survive extremes. We need to cherish the Bedouin way of life, not eliminate it.
It is time to cry mayday. The boat is sinking. The Third Temple, that is modern-day Israel, is being shattered by the blind men of war, driven by hubris and high on power. They reduce Gaza to dust and human ashes, while coveting Jerusalem and closing their hearts. Who will stop this madness?
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
26 minutes ago
- The National
Residents report Israel using explosive robots in Gaza city
The Israeli military has been detonating highly destructive 'explosive robots' in Gaza city in preparation for the full-scale ground assault that got under way on Thursday. The robots – remotely controlled vehicles packed with explosives – cause 'massive destruction', Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told The Nationa l. 'Within a 100-metre radius, they cause complete destruction, and within a 300-metre radius, they cause partial destruction,' Mr Bassal said. 'They have been used extensively in the Gaza Strip during all military operations, particularly in the northern Gaza area, and are now being used in the Al Zeitoun neighbourhood.' Mr Bassal said more than 50 robots had been detonated in Al Zeitoun alone, and that they were responsible for the greatest number of homes destroyed in the southern district. 'From August 6 until now, the occupation has destroyed more than 500 houses in the Zeitoun neighbourhood through a combination of robot detonations and missiles,' he said. 'We can distinguish the explosion of a robot from others because of its destructive power, its extremely loud and terrifying sound, and the large amount of red flames it produces, sometimes lighting up the entire area.' Sameh Adghesh, who lives in the Al Sabra district adjacent to Al Zeitoun with his wife and three children, said he saw the robots being used 500 metres from his home. 'For the first time in my life, I heard explosions so powerful I thought my ears would burst,' said Mr Adghesh, 32. 'I became terrified for my children, because the blasts created huge air pressure that could bring down ceilings or windows on us.' 'Both my wife and I suffer from constant headaches since the robots started being used nearby. We wake up multiple times a night to the sound of explosions. It feels like my head will explode, and my whole body is broken from exhaustion and fear.' The blast from one of these robots can destroy six or seven houses at once, according to Ramy Abdu, director of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med), which documented their use in the Jabalia area north of Gaza city last October. 'The greater crime is that they are detonated without ensuring that the homes are free of residents. Families have been killed inside their houses without ever seeing the robot that was planted near them,' Mr Abdu told The National. According to Euro-Med, the use of such devices is prohibited under international law as they are considered indiscriminate weapons which do not distinguish between civilian and military objects, and whose effects cannot be limited. Rami Abu Zbida, a Palestinian researcher on military and security affairs, said Israel was using two types of robots in Gaza, with their first recorded use having been in May 2024, during operations in Jabalia. 'The first type consists of tracked vehicles that have been converted to operate without a crew inside. The most notable of these is the old M113 armoured personnel carrier, which is loaded with tonnes of explosives and remotely driven, then detonated remotely amid buildings before infantry forces advance,' Mr Abu Zbida told The National. 'As Israeli media has described, this is a new method being used to clear areas suspected of being booby-trapped.' The second type of robot is smaller, used either for removing explosive devices or carrying smaller explosive payloads, he said. 'These are deployed inside alleyways, buildings or tunnel entrances, loaded with explosive charges or barrels, or used to place directed demolition charges. Reports broadcast by Israeli media, as well as our own monitoring, show that these too are remotely operated inside densely populated areas, and their explosions can destroy a large number of homes at once.' He noted that these weapons 'also have a psychological impact'. 'By blowing up large areas at once, they cause shock and widespread structural collapse, which is intended to demoralise the population and act as a form of deterrence, as part of the military's 'geographic engineering' strategy.' Mohammed Abu Shammala, 27, a resident of Tel Al Zaatar neighbourhood next to Jabalia, said the detonations of these robots left the population in constant dread during the assault in October. 'We would hear the sounds of exploding robots every single day,' Mr Abu Shammala told The National. 'The explosions were massive, beyond what a human mind could endure. They deprived us of sleep, filled our hearts with fear, and when we returned home after the [January 19] truce, we found nothing left – literally, not a stone upon another.'
The National
26 minutes ago
- The National
Palestinian statehood hangs by a thread. The world must act now to save it
Israel's announcement on Wednesday that it was taking its first steps towards fully occupying Gaza City – purportedly to seize what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hamas's 'last terror strongholds' – has spurred a wave of alarm within the international community, to say nothing of Gaza itself. Earlier this week, the Netanyahu government acknowledged it was reviewing the latest 60-day ceasefire plan proposed by Egyptian and Qatari interlocutors, and agreed to by Hamas, saying it would respond by Friday. Later, however, it publicly rebuffed one of the deal's conditions: the release of 10 Israeli hostages in Hamas's captivity. It insisted that Hamas instead hand over all of the remaining 50 hostages. It is unclear at this stage whether the occupation plan is simply a tactic to force Hamas to concede in the negotiations, or a more permanent move to swallow Palestine's largest city. Either scenario will have dire consequences, almost certainly extending a 22-month-long war that has claimed the lives of more than 62,000 Palestinian civilians, wounded at least 157,000 Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza's infrastructure and caused mass starvation, in addition to the death of more than 1,200 Israelis, and unknown fate of 50 hostages. As far as pressure tactics go, this would be an extremely callous one, not only to Gazans but to the Israeli public, too. While opinion polls show nearly 80 per cent of Jewish Israelis have little sympathy for the suffering in Gaza, nearly 70 per cent also want the war to end as quickly as possible. Tens of thousands of Israelis have protested the continuation of the war, and they are backed by many former public officials. Calling up 60,000 reservists, as the government has done, to undertake a new offensive demonstrates no regard for this reality. The Israeli government's approval this week for a new plan in the occupied West Bank, to build settlements that cut East Jerusalem off from other Palestinian cities, poses a similar conundrum. Some speculate that this, too, is a negotiating tactic ahead of the upcoming UN General Assembly session in New York, in which several western countries plan to recognise Palestinian statehood. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a chief advocate of the plan, has said with glee that it will erase any hopes for future Palestinian state. But tactic or not, the scars created will be very real and may be irreversible. Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, has spoken of his support for the idea of a 'Greater Israel', threatening neighbouring Arab countries. In both Gaza and the West Bank, if the outcome really is a permanent expansion of Israeli-controlled territory, then we are at a dangerous precipice, in which Israel's so-called defensive war becomes an open war of conquest. A greater number of Israel's western allies than ever are speaking out to condemn such a possibility, but their warnings are treated by Mr Netanyahu with contempt. Condemnations, however frequent or severe, will achieve little. Recognition of Palestinian statehood is a morally correct position, but also – clearly, given how provocative it seems to Israel's government – a strategically wise one. Countries who have not yet committed to doing so should. Any erasure of the Palestinian statehood dream on the ground stands a better chance of eventually being undone if it continues to exist in the commitments of the international community. Even so, the world should not let it come to that. There is still time for the latest wave of Israeli tanks to turn back, if Israel's friends can summon a tougher line.
Dubai Eye
2 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Israel maintains military pressure on Gaza City ahead of planned offensive
The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave's largest city. The military a day earlier called up 60,000 reservists in a sign that the government was pressing ahead with the plan, despite international condemnation. Although one military official said that most reservists would not serve in combat and that the strategy to take Gaza City had not yet been finalised. Calling up tens of thousands of reservists is also likely to take weeks, giving time for mediators to attempt to bridge gaps over a new temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas has accepted, but the Israeli government is yet to officially respond to. The proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The Israeli government has restated that all of the remaining 50 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza must be released at once. Israeli officials believe that around 20 of them are still alive. GAZA CITY SEIZURE Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with some cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss his plan to seize Gaza City, according to Haaretz and other Israeli media, without giving more details. The plan was approved this month by the security cabinet, which he chairs, even though many of Israel's closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Netanyahu is under pressure from some far-right members of his coalition to reject a temporary ceasefire and instead to continue the war and pursue the annexation of the territory. In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes as Israeli forces have escalated shelling on the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods. Some families have left for shelters along the coast, while others have moved to central and southern parts of the enclave, according to residents there. Israeli tanks have been edging closer to densely populated Gaza City over the past 10 days. Israeli officials have said evacuation notices would be issued to Palestinians there before the military moves in. Two more people have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said on Thursday. The new deaths raised the number of Palestinians who have died from such causes to 271, including 112 children, since the war began. Israel disputes malnutrition and starvation figures posted by the Gaza health ministry.
