JERUSALEM, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Wednesday approved the construction of 3,401 housing units in E1, a highly contentious area of the occupied West Bank.

The decision by the Higher Planning Council has triggered strong condemnation from the international community. Why is Israel advancing this plan now, and why has it drawn such anger?

CONTENTIOUS AREA

The Higher Planning Council on Wednesday authorized 3,753 housing units, including 3,401 for final approval in the E1 neighborhood of Maale Adumim.

E1 is located east of Jerusalem, linking the large-scale settlement of Maale Adumim with East Jerusalem. Settlement construction there is believed to effectively divide the West Bank into northern and southern parts, cutting off Palestinian territorial continuity between East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah, while creating a continuous Jewish population corridor between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim.

Plans to expand settlements in E1 date back to the 1990s and have been reportedly endorsed by almost every Israeli prime minister since. However, strong international pressure repeatedly forced Israel to shelve or delay the project. Earlier this month, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that the E1 plan would be approved, saying it would "bury the idea of a Palestinian state" and form part of the government's broader "sovereignty plan."

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority swiftly condemned the move. "This undermines the chances of implementing the two-state solution, establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, and fragments its geographic and demographic unity," the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry said in a statement.

CONSISTENT EXPANSION STRATEGY

Israel launched a new offensive on Gaza City on Wednesday, a move that has drawn international criticism over its impact on civilians in the devastated enclave. Earlier in the day, Israel began calling up around 60,000 reservists for the offensive to take over Gaza City.

Against this backdrop, analysts say the approval of the E1 settlement plan serves multiple purposes: on the domestic front, the far-right dominated government seeks to consolidate its political base by taking a hard line on settlement expansion; at the same time, with public attention largely on the Gaza war and regional tensions, the government is using this moment as a window of opportunity to push forward a project that had been stalled for decades under domestic and international pressure.

Analysts believe the E1 move could also prolong the Gaza conflict. Israel's E1 plans are widely seen as further evidence that it rejects peace and seeks to annex occupied land, a perception that could fuel resistance. At the same time, the decision may weaken Israel's already limited international tolerance for its military campaign in Gaza, leaving the Netanyahu government more isolated.

Settlement expansion is seen as a significant obstacle to peace talks. Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the Six-Day War of 1967 and has since built settlements widely deemed illegal under international law. Currently, more than 720,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel has accelerated settlement activities in recent years. In 2024, the government approved the expropriation of 12.7 square kilometers of land in the Jordan Valley, the largest since the 1993 Oslo Accords. In May this year, it approved 22 new settlements in the West Bank. Critics say E1 is part of this broader strategy, particularly among the Israeli far right, to entrench Israeli control and block Palestinian statehood.

BROAD OPPOSITION

According to Peace Now, an Israeli NGO that has long opposed settlement construction, the plan would increase the housing stock in Maale Adumim by about 33 percent. For a settlement whose population has stagnated at around 38,000 over the past decade and even experienced net out-migration, the plan represents a "massive expansion."

The group warned that the project undermines prospects for a political solution to the seemingly intractable conflict with the Palestinians, poses a severe threat to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and could waste vast amounts of Israeli public funds.

International opposition has also grown sharper. On Aug. 14, one day after Smotrich approved the plan, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to drop the plan, warning that the move would violate international law and irreparably damage prospects for a two-state solution.

"If implemented, settlement construction in this area will permanently cut the geographical and territorial contiguity between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank," Kallas said in a statement.

A few hours after the Higher Planning Council approved the plan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the decision, saying that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, "are a violation of international law and run directly counter to UN resolutions."

"The advancement of this project is an existential threat to the two-State solution. It would sever the northern and southern West Bank and have severe consequences for the territorial contiguity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN chief, in a statement.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday that the plan would essentially cut off the northern and central West Bank from the south, resulting in severe humanitarian consequences.

The wider occupied Palestinian territory would be impacted, with 18 Palestinian Bedouin communities put at a higher risk of displacement.

"This plan also involves the construction of a bypass road diverting Palestinian traffic away from the main Jerusalem-Jericho road," the office said. "In this context, OCHA notes that such roads undermine territorial contiguity, increase travel times, and negatively affect people's livelihoods and access to services." ■