Israel advances E1 plan linking Maale Adumim to Jerusalem

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, announced overnight that plans to build about 3,400 housing units in the West Bank settlement frontier known as E1 would move forward, effectively linking the Maale Adumim settlement with Jerusalem and, in his view, bury the idea of a Palestinian state. The plan, long frozen amid international opposition, would cut through the heart of the West Bank, raising questions about the fate of a two-state framework and drawing swift pushback from Palestinian officials and rights groups.

The E1 project sits between the existing Maale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem. Approval would involve tenders for thousands of homes and would accelerate construction in a area critics say could divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern territories, severing a continuous Palestinian land corridor to East Jerusalem and preventing a viable future state. The plan has been subject to decades of debate and, until now, had not progressed past the preliminary stages amid sporadic U.S. and international objections.

Smotrich framed the move as a definitive step in establishing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. In a statement highlighting...