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As annexation stalls, Netanyahu revives plan to expand West Bank settlements

Israel is reviving the E1 plan to build thousands of settlements in East Jerusalem, which would cut off the city from the rest of the West Bank and undermine any prospect for the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.
A picture taken from the E1 corridor, a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, shows Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the background on June 30, 2020. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s illegal Jewish settlements have had a major strategic and political purpose from the onset. Despite claims to “reclaim” the God-given land for the Jewish people, Israeli settlements are said to prevent the creation of a contiguous independent Palestinian state. The latest Israeli push to revive the E1 settlement plans in East Jerusalem has that precise aim.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appears to be pushing for a fourth Israeli election within less than two years, appears to be eyeing the area that could connect the large Ma’ale Adumim settlement with West Jerusalem. Having failed to get the green light from Washington for unilateral annexation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank, Netanyahu appears to be intent on satisfying right-wingers in Israel by launching the controversial settlement to the east of East Jerusalem, which would physically destroy any remote chance of a two-state solution that would include a contiguous Palestinian state.

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