The Netanyahu government’s decision to move ahead with the E1 project, which aims to connect settlements in the Maale Adumim bloc in the occupied West Bank with East Jerusalem, is a targeted assassination of peace. It is a sniper’s bullet to the heart of future coexistence.
This comes as a thuggish response to the growing list of nations that have decided to recognise the state of Palestine. In the minds of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, developing E1 will deal a death blow to the idea of a Palestinian state.
E1 is one of the few areas on Jerusalem’s eastern periphery that is not covered in Jewish settlements. It is home to a towering Israeli police headquarters, along with a few humble Bedouin communities. Its development would drive a wedge through the heart of the occupied West Bank, separating north from south, while closing off the last relatively open route for Palestinians there to access East Jerusalem’s holy sites, tourism revenues, hospitals and transport systems.
International law, which recognises the 1967 Green Line as the border around Palestinian territory, would be ignored by Israel, as ever.
The latest stage of the Greater Jerusalem plan is thus being put into effect – a wedge that will Judaise the land from Tel Aviv to Jordan, as settlers in the Old City of Jerusalem increase their presence, aiming to deny Palestinian self-determination.
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“House by house” was always the strategy of the right-wing settler movement; today, the land grabs and demolitions of Palestinian homes are proceeding at rates never before seen.
With a silent or complicit US administration – Mike Huckabee, the Christian Zionist ambassador to Israel, maintains E1 development is not a violation of international law – the Israeli government is giving the finger to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled in July 2024 that Israel must cease its occupation.
International pressure
The ICJ ruling noted: “The Court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.”
In the face of Israel’s blatant defiance, and to end the barbaric assault on Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza, the international community must now – finally – take steps to ensure its compliance with international law.
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Israel must be pressured to abide by its obligations under the Geneva Conventions, in order to end the impunity that is destroying not only the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, but also the futures of both peoples.
In the past, international pressure was successful in delaying plans to populate E1 with illegal Jewish settlements. But the minor embargoes and minimal sanctions we’re seeing today are not enough to dent Israeli impunity. On the contrary, pro-Palestine activists are being arrested and attacked, both here in Israel and abroad.
Jerusalem is the crown jewel for the messianic forces driving the agenda in Israel. Many, especially Christian Zionist supporters of Israel’s far right, seek the “rapture” and “end of days”. They aren’t interested in peace. They defy ancient Jewish values centred on Psalm 34:14: “Seek peace and pursue it.”
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So, with the world’s eyes justifiably on Gaza, the doomsday scenario formulated by uber-nationalist Israeli ministers, such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, necessitates eternal war – along with inevitable cycles of revenge, fear, hatred and pain, while reducing Palestine to a series of heavily securitised bantustans.
The settlement of E1 also means forcible displacement into slums for thousands of Bedouin people in the Jerusalem periphery. Many were expelled in 1948 from the Naqab desert. They are already suffering from armed settler violence and military control, disrupting their traditions of pastoral, semi-nomadic subsistence.
Former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat once referred to these Bedouin communities as the “gatekeepers of Jerusalem”. Their knowledge of desert life and culture is an essential tool, particularly as the world grapples with increasingly high temperatures – including the threat of 50C summers within a few decades in Israel, making life almost unbearable for many.
Denying Bedouin communities the freedom to live modestly in the desert is a decision that will haunt us and our children, especially when there are no teachers left with knowledge of how to survive extremes. We need to cherish the Bedouin way of life, not eliminate it.
It is time to cry mayday. The boat is sinking. The Third Temple, that is modern-day Israel, is being shattered by the blind men of war, driven by hubris and high on power. They reduce Gaza to dust and human ashes, while coveting Jerusalem and closing their hearts. Who will stop this madness?
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
