The Peace Now organization, which monitors settlements, warned that the Israeli government is pushing settlements in the E1 area, two days after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with US President Joe Biden.
In a statement distributed by Americans for Peace Now, the organization said, “The Supreme Council for Planning sent a summons today for a hearing on October 4 and October 18 to discuss the objections submitted by Peace Now, Ir Amim, and many others, to plans to build 3,412 housing units in E1 area".
According to the organization’s statement, earlier this year, in July 2021, the Supreme Council of the session tried to set a date for the hearing in August, but it was canceled, “The government of Israel had the opportunity to withdraw the plan from the table, but instead From that, the plan was promoted, and today the Supreme People’s Assembly announced the new date for the hearing at the beginning of October, right after the holidays in Israel.”
According to the organization, this plan is considered exceptionally fatal to the chances of peace and a two-state solution because it extends across the occupied West Bank, and prevents communication between Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
It is mentioned that there have been attempts to promote this plan since the 1990s, “but because of the opposition in Israel and the world it was not promoted until former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered it to be approved for deposit in 2012, then years later the plan was frozen, and Netanyahu promoted it again On the eve of the February 2020 elections.
Peace Now said, “This plan poses a real threat to the opportunity for peace, and has thus gained strong opposition in Israel and internationally. Instead of taking advantage of the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and US President Joe Biden for a better future for the region, the (current) government is promoting Netanyahu’s dangerous policies.” y
The organization called on Prime Minister Bennett and Defense Minister Gantz, “to freeze this plan until the Israeli interest is protected and the error is prevented.”
Al-Quds learned that the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, asked the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, in their meeting at the US State Department, last Wednesday, August 25, 2021, that the Israeli government refrain from taking “unilateral” steps such as expanding settlements, “In order to avoid raising the tension between the Palestinians and Israel, and to preserve the prospects for peace, and the two-state solution exists.”
