Eid al-Jahalin, head of the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community in the E1 zone, has witnessed decades of Israeli attempts to displace its residents. 

His community has repeatedly rejected relocation offers from Israeli officials and ministers,  maintaining its presence despite mounting pressure in the form of demolition orders, building prohibitions, restricted access to water, arrests, grazing limitations, and financial penalties.

In May 2018, Israeli authorities ordered Khan al-Ahmar's demolition and the expulsion of its residents, but backed down following resident resistance and warnings from the United Nations that such actions could constitute war crimes.

That reprieve ended last week. On Thursday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “there will be no Palestinian state” as he signed an agreement to advance the long-disputed E1 settlement project east of occupied Jerusalem.

At a ceremony in the illegal settlement of  Ma’ale Adumim, on Jerusalem’s eastern edge, Netanyahu called the move “historic,” vowing to double the city’s population and accelerate settlement growth: “This place belongs to us … We are going to safeguard our heritage, our land, and our security.”

Although the E1 plan was first drafted in 1999 and formally approved in 2012 – though repeatedly frozen under international pressure – al-Jahalin tells TRT World: “We’ve lived this reality since the occupation began in 1967.”

The project encompasses 12,000 dunams (12 million m²) of Palestinian land that Israeli authorities declared as state property through confiscation proceedings dating back to 1999. Officials have now authorised actual construction, with the broader plan — estimated at nearly $1 billion — including new roads and major infrastructure upgrades.

The approved plan would link Jerusalem to Ma’ale Adumim, creating a continuous illegal settlement bloc that cuts the occupied West Bank in two. Analysts warn that the project would permanently sever East Jerusalem from its Palestinian hinterland, eliminating the geographic basis for a viable Palestinian state.

Communities under threat

According to the Palestinian Authority's Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the E1 plan, includes construction of thousands of housing units, an industrial zone, a police station, a waste disposal site, hotels, and both biblical and public parks. 

The illegal development also features the partially completed Fabric of Life project, which would serve as the only road for Palestinians connecting the south of the West Bank with its centre.

It would also have gates and checkpoints that can be opened or closed at will, effectively “leaving the residents’ fate in Israel’s hands,” according to Moayad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.

"The plan would transform the [occupied] West Bank into isolated cantons and create geographical continuity between settlements at the expense of Palestinian land and communities," said Shaaban.

Implementing the project would require the forced displacement of at least 7,000 Palestinians and 22 Bedouin communities, who have inhabited the area east of Jerusalem since before Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank. These communities, stretching from Al-Zaim through Khan al-Ahmar to the Dead Sea region, have already faced systematic pressure through repeated demolitions and building restrictions.

After approving 6,900 new units in and around Ma’ale Adumim, last month, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also oversees settlement affairs, boasted that the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.” He claimed both Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump backed the scheme, though neither has publicly confirmed this.

Salem al-Jahalin, a 70-year-old resident of Jabal al-Baba community situated at the heart of the E1 area, points from his corrugated metal shelter atop the hill.  

"From that hill over there, Smotrich announced the revival of E1. He dreams of building the largest settlement complex in what they call Greater Jerusalem," he said.

The elderly man's family, like many Palestinian Bedouins in the area, was expelled from the Negev desert in southern historic Palestine during the 1950s and scattered across the hills of Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Jordan Valley. 

"Today they want us to experience a new Nakba," he explained.

Israeli authorities have demolished al-Jahalin’s home three times, citing a lack of building permits in areas classified as Area C under the Oslo Accords designations. The Jabal al-Baba community, home to approximately 450 Palestinians, has endured at least 80 demolition operations over the years. 

The stark contrast between the Bedouin communities and the neighbouring Maale Adumim settlement illustrates the systematic discrimination. While the illegal settlement boasts modern infrastructure, commercial centers, recreational facilities, and educational institutions, Palestinian residents live in tents and metal structures without basic infrastructure or security. 

"At any moment, we could find ourselves without shelter," al-Jahalin added.

Political implications

Allied governments and advocacy groups sharply denounced the announcement, arguing that it was unlawful under international law and would further fragment Palestinian territory and undermine the viability of any future peace arrangement.

Palestinian officials view the E1 resurrection as part of a broader strategy to annex the occupied West Bank under the current Israeli government. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, told TRT World, "The Palestinian people today face a fascist, racist government unprecedented in history since Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany."

He accused Washington of complicity in the settlement expansion, arguing that "all colonial settlement steps being implemented are not only fully coordinated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also with complete coordination with the United States."

International criticism has been sharp. The UN, EU, and most world governments consider settlements illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, while Israel insists the West Bank is “disputed ” to be resolved in negotiations. In June, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand imposed sanctions on Smotrich and another far-right minister over incitement of violence against Palestinians.

Since October 2023, escalating settler attacks have displaced 30 Bedouin communities and killed at least ten Palestinians, shares Shaaban.. Roughly 700,000 illegal settlers now live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside 2.7 million Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s signing of the E1 plan marks the most serious step yet toward cementing Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank. Whether construction begins immediately or faces new legal and diplomatic challenges, the ceremony signalled what critics describe as the final blow to the two-state solution.

This article is published in collaboration with Egab.