Israel advances plans for 7,000 new settler homes, places E1 project back on docket
(Worthy News) – Israel is seeking to once again advance the highly controversial E1 settlement project that would bisect Palestinian contiguity in the West Bank, as it also green-lit plans Thursday for more than 7,000 new settlement homes, the largest number ever authorized in one sitting.
The far-reaching moves to further entrench Israel’s presence beyond the Green Line comes just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government neared its two-month anniversary. The series of agreements that laid the foundation for the coalition’s establishment pledged to significantly expand settlements and included a commitment to annex large parts of the West Bank where the government’s guiding principles declare the “Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right” to live and develop.
Netanyahu holds a veto over such annexation efforts, which he is expected to utilize due to the belief that such a move would shut the door on an elusive normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. But critics say the government is still moving forward with de-facto annexation, including through Thursday’s decision to hand far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich authority over the Civil Administration, the Defense Ministry body that authorizes settlement construction. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]