Last Thursday, the UK, Italy, France and Germany issued a joint statement opposing Israel’s publication of comprehensive plans for the ‘E1’ settlement project in the occupied West Bank.
As the Israeli government invited bids for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units, intended to link Ma’ale Adumim and other illegal Israeli settlements with occupied East Jerusalem, the four European nations issued a joint statement condemning the expansion as 'unacceptable'.
'At a time of grave instability in the West Bank, with unprecedented levels of settler violence against civilians and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning,' the joint statement from Paris, Rome, Berlin and London said.
The statement echoes previous condemnation from the UN Human Rights Office, which described the E1 project as a 'grave and unlawful step to consolidate annexation'. The UN Secretary-General has also said that settlement construction in the area violates international law and runs directly counter to UN resolutions.
Human rights organisations and critics have warned that the creation of a continuous Israeli settlement in the E1 area would isolate Palestinian communities on either side of the northern and southern West Bank from one another, effectively severing the territory in two.
Nonetheless, the E1 project is viewed as a crucial part of a wider expansion of Israeli settlements across the West Bank. Bids for the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim into the E1 area are currently due to close on October 19, just eight days before the upcoming Israeli elections.
