On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to allow 3,500 new Israeli settlements in a contested region of the West Bank known as the “E-1 zone,” short for East-1.
E-1 is an “underpopulated” strip of land located between East Jerusalem, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, and the Ma’ale Adumim bloc, an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank. The E-1 zone is mostly inhabited by Bedouin Arab residents, Zachary Lockman, a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies and history at New York University, told me.
Plans to build Jewish settlements in the E-1 zone have been talked about for years now. But objections from the United States and Israel’s European allies have so far been able to pressure Israel to stop these plans from going forward.
The concerns, experts say, is that such settlements would threaten a potential future peace deal with the Palestinians. And, because they would essentially cut off the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, the settlements could make the creation of a future contiguous Palestinian state even more difficult, if not impossible.
Article submitted by, Great Gazoo.