29 US lawmakers urge Biden to prevent Israeli construction of “doomsday” settlements in W. Bank's E1
Washington (QNN)- Twenty-nine progressive Democrats have urged the Biden administration to pressure Israeli occupation to prevent the construction of a “doomsday” settlement between Jerusalem and the West Bank, ahead of a trip to the region.
“We write to express our alarm over the Israeli government's renewed effort to build settlements in the West Bank area known as E-1,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 1.
“As legislators committed to the goal of a just and secure peace between Israel and the Palestinians, we are grateful to this administration for its previous work to prevent harmful actions that move us further from this goal, including the successful prevention of E-1 settlement plans that were under consideration last year.”
“We ask that you continue holding firm on this issue, especially as you prepare for President Biden's forthcoming visit to the region.”
“U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides has called the proposed settlements a "disaster" and has described the Biden administration's efforts to prevent it as going "full bore."? We were pleased to see these efforts rewarded by the news this January that the Israeli government's E-1 settlement construction plan had been "indefinitely postponed."”
“We urge you to continue emphasizing in the lead-up to [US President Joe Biden’s 13-14 July] visit [to Israel and the West Bank] that settlement construction in E-1 remains a red line for the United States and to use every diplomatic tool at your disposal to ensure that Israel does not further advance these devastating plans,” the lawmakers added in the letter ed by Mark Pocan and Jan Schakowsky.
More than two dozen House Democrats sent a letter to Blinken in November last year, saying the E1 settlements posed an “irreconcilable challenge to a lasting peace solution between Israel and the Palestinians”.
The building plan for around 3,400 illegal settlement houses in E1 was initiated in 2021 under the previous government of Benjamin Netanyahu and, at the time, drew widespread international criticism.
Construction in E1 is in the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem beyond the 1948-Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and has long been considered a red line as a point of no return for a potential two-state solution.
Construction in the 12-square-kilometer (4.6-square-mile) area, which the lawmakers describe as "a vital corridor to Palestinian life," would effectively split the West Bank in half, impeding traffic between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank and between the West Bank and East Jerusalem—effectively dooming a potential Palestinian state.
Americans for Peace Now’s President and CEO Hadar Susskind described E1 settlement construction as "the textbook example" of unilateral actions that make achieving a two-state solution more difficult, saying "it is vital that Israel halt the approval process. We are grateful to Congressman Pocan and the 25 other signatories for their bold leadership against this. I hope the Biden Administration will use every diplomatic tool to prevent this from happening.”
On 18 July, Israel’s war ministry is slated to hold a final hearing on the objections to two E1 projects totalling 3,412 housing units.
