If it were up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel would have imposed its sovereignty over the settlements, and with them, 30% of the total West Bank territory, as offered by President Donald Trump’s peace plan even before the last Israeli election. However, in a last-minute twist, senior American advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt intervened. They made it clear to the prime minister that that the United States would only agree to Israeli sovereignty after the territories were mapped out in full and a stable Israeli government was formed, splashing cold water on the plans of Netanyahu, the settlers and the political right.

Once they realized that their ability to impose sovereignty was limited by a formal government decision, ministers on the right initiated a series of moves that meant de facto annexation. They changed a government policy that limited and restrained their actions. Over the years, the US administration kept careful watch on such moves and prevented changes to the situation on the ground. The lack of any public reaction from the US administration to these recent moves suggests that they were coordinated between Israel and the United States.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett was responsible for the most recent move. Bennet is chairman of Yamina, a right-wing faction of several smaller parties affiliated with the religious Zionist movement. On March 9 he approved a project he called the “Sovereignty Road." It involves the creation of a separate road for Palestinians living in Area E1 near Jerusalem connecting the village of al-Zaim, which lies next to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, with the Palestinian villages of Anata, Hizmeh and al-Ram. The goal is to enable the movement of Palestinian vehicles without them crossing through the settlement bloc in the Ma’ale Adumim region, which will allow Israel to start construction on the separation fence planned around the Adumim bloc and begin building in the area.

E1 is 12 square kilometers (7.5 square miles) currently considered part of the municipality of Ma’ale Adumim. The land borders Jerusalem’s municipal boundary. Plans to build in the area date back to the Yitzak Rabin government, but they have been put on hold since 2005 for diplomatic reasons. The delays were the result of pressure from Western governments, first and foremost the United States. While this was particularly true during the administration of President Barak Obama, the Donald Trump administration had also insisted that no construction take place there, at least until the release of the plan. International and Palestinian criticism of plans for construction there complains that it would cut the northern West Bank off from the south and make it more difficult to establish a Palestinian state in the future.