Cyprus Mail
Guest ColumnistOpinion

Israel’s E1 plan threatens the future of the Palestinian people

israeli settlers walk past structures that were erected for a new jewish seminary school, in the settler outpost of homesh in the israeli occupied west bank
Israeli settlers walk past structures that were erected for a new Jewish seminary school, in the settler outpost of Homesh in the Israeli-occupied West Ban

By Abdullah Attari

The Israeli government is at it again, actively discussing the construction of thousands of illegal settlement units as part of a massive settlement expansion scheme known as E1.

Though Israeli construction in the East Jerusalem area has supposedly been halted under international pressure, the Israeli government has found ways to keep the plan alive. It has done so through the constant expansion of the various settlements in the name of “natural expansion”, the confiscation of Palestinian land and the ruthless yet routine demolition of Palestinian homes.

But why does the US, Israel’s main defender and benefactor, oppose, at least verbally, the construction in E1, while turning a blind eye to illegal construction throughout the West Bank? The answer lies in the fact that E1 will further expand Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, minimising any Palestinian demographic presence in the city (from the current 42 per cent to about 20 per cent) and prejudicing any political solution that includes East Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem is a Palestinian city, occupied by Israel since the June 1967 war. It is recognised by the UN and international law as part of the Occupied Territories. Israel should have neither legal rights nor jurisdiction there.

Washington, which rarely cares about the rights of Palestinians, is concerned that, without East Jerusalem as part of the political equation, any discussion of a “two-state solution” will become forever obsolete.

In other words, the US is more worried about the political, not territorial, consequences of the Israeli decision. Indeed, America’s entire political programme in Palestine and Israel is situated within the two-state solution template. Without it, Washington’s role would cease to serve any purpose.

This is why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticised Israeli settlements during his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee last week. Though he covered the habitual US commitment to Israel’s security, describing it as “nonnegotiable” and “ironclad”, he also warned against “any move toward annexation of the West Bank … disruption of the historic status quo at holy sites (and) the continuing demolitions of homes.” These steps, and more, will “damage prospects for two states”, the cornerstone of US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Israel, on the other hand, is not interested in a two-state, one-state or any “solution” to its military occupation and apartheid in Palestine. Instead, Tel Aviv is working toward a specific end: A formula of permanent domination, one that would satisfy its quest for “security”, demographic superiority and “defensible” borders.

It matters little that Israel’s vision for its own borders is largely inconsistent with international law. All that matters to the current government — in fact, all Israeli governments — are the “national interests” of the country’s Jewish population, whose future has been linked to the crushing of the political aspirations and civil rights of the country’s native inhabitants.

Jerusalem’s particular significance stems from two factors: Its historical, spiritual, economic and administrative centrality to all Palestinians and the fact it has been the holy grail of Israel’s settler colonialism in Palestine for the last 75 years.

Israel’s motive in the Palestinian city is maximum land with an absolute Jewish majority. For this to take place, much work has to be done; namely, ensuring the territorial continuity between the massive illegal Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem.

Israel’s motives are not a secret. A long report by the Zionist Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs champions and illustrates Tel Aviv’s objectives in detail. The report warns against allowing “security and urban discontinuity between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, or the reversion of Jerusalem to a border-town status … that would preclude the city’s eastward development.”

The reference to “eastward development” is particularly dangerous, as many illegal Jewish settlements have been deliberately planted in various parts of the West Bank, all the way to the Jordan Valley, for the sole purpose of linking them up, thus dividing the West Bank into two main regions, south and north.

Considering the current administration and “security” divisions of the West Bank, a major territorial division would deny Palestinians any sense of physical continuity, let alone statehood. In other words, apartheid would become permanent and, from Israel’s perspective, sustainable.

As for the westward expansion, connecting Ma’ale Adumim to the so-called metropolitan Jerusalem through construction in E1 would help Israel achieve a fundamental component of its expansionist strategy. According to the Zionist Jerusalem Centre, such a merger would “incorporate both settlement and security as two vital, complementary components of Israel’s national interest”.

And, wherever there is Israeli construction in occupied Palestine, there is always the destruction of Palestinian properties and the confiscation of land.

According to the Office of the EU Representative in Palestine, 28,208 illegal settlement units “were advanced” in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2022, compared to 22,030 in 2021. An even higher number is expected in 2023.

As for Palestinian home demolitions, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs paints a grim picture. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, 290 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were demolished or seized. This represents an increase of 46 per cent compared to the same period last year.

East Jerusalem has seen a major share of this destruction, specifically 95 homes and other structures between Jan. 1 and March 28, according to the World Council of Churches. The outcome has been the displacement of 149 Palestinians, including 88 children.

The price of Israel’s major plans in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank is not just humanitarian. It is essentially political, aimed at cutting off Palestinian communities from one another, isolating Jerusalem completely and ensuring a Jewish demographic majority for generations to come.

Though Blinken tries to emphasise the threat of such actions to the two-state solution, the real danger lies in the fact that these measures threaten the very fabric of Palestinian society and the political future of the Palestinian people.

Israel’s quest to reactivate its E1 plan requires not just mere condemnation, but tangible and decisive action, especially as Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government is more out of control than ever before.

 

 

Abdullah Attari is the Palestinian Ambassador to Cyprus

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