The Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements said that the occupation's authorities announced a plan to establish a thousand new settlement units on the lands of al-Tur, Anata, al-Eizariya and abu Dis villages in occupied al-Quds, indicating that the plan will completely isolate the occupied East al-Quds area from the rest of the West Bank.

 

 

The E1 master plan was approved in 1999. It covers approximately 1,200 hectares of land – most of which Israel declared as state land in a legally dubious procedure. During the 1990s these lands were made part of the jurisdiction of the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, so it now encompasses approximately 4,800 hectares.

 

 

The plan, known as East 1 or E-1, will cut off the northern part of the West Bank from the southern party and pose as a major obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state.

 

 

The implementation of construction plans in E1 will create an urban bloc between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem, exacerbate the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, and disrupt the territorial contiguity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.

 

 

According to the Palestinian Authority (PA), this project represents a threat – it warned several times that it would take steps in case Israel implemented the plan.

 

 

NGO Ir Amim revealed that this project destroys Bedouin communities that reside in East Jerusalem, and along the zone till Jordan Valley.