{"id":44257,"date":"2025-07-14T10:09:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T07:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peacenow.org.il\/?p=44257"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:46:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:46:39","slug":"e1-objections-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacenow.org.il\/en\/e1-objections-discussion","title":{"rendered":"The Government Pushes Forward Plans in E1, Considered a Death Blow to the Two-State Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Higher Planning Council will convene on August 6, 2025 to complete the hearing of objections<\/a> submitted against the plans to build thousands of housing units in E1.<\/p>\n

The plans for the construction of a settlement with 3,412 housing units in E1 are considered particularly devastating<\/a> for the prospects of peace and the future of a two-state solution, as they would cut the West Bank in two and prevent the development of the metropolitan area between Ramallah, East Jerusalem, and Bethlehem.<\/strong> Efforts to promote the E1 plan date back to the 1990s, but due to opposition within Israel and internationally, the plan was stalled until Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed to advance it for the first time in 2012<\/a>. After further years of freeze, it was approved for deposit by Netanyahu on the eve of the 2020 elections<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plan continued to be promoted under the so-called “Government of Change” led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, with the objections subcommittee of the Higher Planning Council holding two hearings on the objections in October 2021<\/a>. The third and final hearing was initially scheduled for January 10, 2022, but was postponed under American pressure to an “unknown date.”<\/a> The Netanyahu-Smotrich government attempted to advance the plan again with a hearing set for June 2023, which was also postponed<\/a> due to American pressure.<\/p>\n

\n

Peace Now: \u201cThe Netanyahu-Smotrich government is exploiting the war in Gaza and the current internal and international power dynamics to establish facts on the ground that would eliminate any prospect for peace and a two-state reality. The government is condemning us to continued conflict and bloodshed and is leading Israel to the edge of the abyss. Advancing the E1 plan could be a generational disaster that would make peace even harder to achieve in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is worth recalling that about three months ago, the Israeli cabinet approved a 335 million shekel budget<\/a> for paving a road that would enable construction in E1 and close off the entire area to Palestinians (see more details here<\/a>). Peace Now has learned that the national water company, Mekorot, has begun preparations to relocate a water facility currently located in the E1 area, in order to allow for the infrastructure development for the planned settlement.<\/p>\n

For more background on the plan and its implications \u2013 see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The meaning of the discussion of the objections to the plan<\/h3>\n

A hearing of objections in the subcommittee is a required step for advancing the plan. After the objections are heard, the subcommittee recommends whether to accept or reject the plan. This is followed by a discussion in the Higher Planning Council to approve the plan for validation. Once validation is approved and officially published, the plan becomes legally binding, and building permits can be issued accordingly.<\/p>\n

In Ma\u2019ale Adumim, where construction is overseen by the Ministry of Housing, there is also a stage in which tenders are published, inviting contractors to bid for the right to build and market the homes \u2014 a process that usually takes several months, and sometimes over a year. If the bureaucracy moves quickly, the time from the current stage of hearing objections to the beginning of construction on the ground could take around three years.<\/p>\n

For more information about the planning process \u2013 see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n