Hearing on final approval to the E1 plan and advancing a total of 3,753 housing units in the West Bank

On Wednesday, 20 August 2025, the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration is set to discuss plans for 3,753 housing units across the West Bank.

The bulk of the construction, comprising 3,401 units, will be up for validation in the controversial E1 area, adjacent to the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim (Plans 420/4/7 and 420/4/10). In addition, 342 housing units are slated for deposit in the newly recognized settlement of Asa’el, which the Israeli government legalized in February 2023.

The approval of construction in E1 is moving at record speed, coming just two weeks after objections were heard on 6 August 2025. The plans for 3,412 housing units in E1 are considered particularly devastating for the prospects of peace and the future of a two-state solution.  The development would splitthe West Bank and prevent the development of the metropolitan area between Ramallah, East Jerusalem, and Bethlehem.

Efforts to promote the E1 plan date back to the 1990s, but opposition within Israel and abroad stalled the planuntil Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed to advance it for the first time in 2012. This initiative did not move forward and resulted in further years of freeze. And then, for the second time, Netanyahu approved it for deposit on  the eve of the 2020 elections.

Peace Now: The E1 plan is part of the tens of thousands of units advanced by the government this year, aimed at preventing  a two-state solution. The E1 plan is one of the most dangerous to the future of both peoples and the region as a whole. By relentlessly pushing this project forward, the Israeli government is sabotaging any possibility of a political solution and dragging both Israelis and Palestinians into an endless cycle of conflict. The dangerous E1 project must be halted at once to preserve the hope of a peaceful future for both nations.

Breakdown of the plans under discussion:

One of the changes made by the Netanyahu-Smotrich government in June 2023 was the elimination of the need for defense minister approval for each stage of settlement plan advancement. Previously, every construction plan in settlements required prior approval from the defense minister. In recent years, the defense minister had limited settlement plan advancements to approximately four times a year, with thousands of housing units being approved in a single session of the Higher Planning Council. In recent weeks, we have witnessed a change where the Higher Planning Council meets every week and approves several hundred housing units in each meeting. In this way, the government seeks to normalize planning in settlements and attract less public and international attention and criticism.

List of Plans Approved Since January 2025