What Is the E1 Settlement Plan and Why Could It Divide the West Bank?
The E1 settlement plan covers a strategically located area east of Jerusalem, beside the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. The approved plans call for 3,401 housing units, along with roads and related infrastructure. Because E1 sits between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, its development could change how Palestinian communities connect with one another and with East Jerusalem.
A project at the West Bank’s narrowest link
The West Bank is not a single uninterrupted urban area. Palestinian cities and villages are separated by Israeli settlements, military zones, roads and checkpoints. E1 lies along one of the most important remaining links between Ramallah in the north and Bethlehem and Hebron farther south.
The European External Action Service said the plan received final approval from Israel’s Higher Planning Council in August 2025, followed by the publication of construction tenders in December 2025. A tender allows construction to move toward implementation, but it does not by itself prove that all building has begun. The same report described E1 as a project that could split the West Bank into non-contiguous sections and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory. (eeas.europa.eu)
A related road project, often called the “Sovereignty Road,” is intended to reroute Palestinian traffic around the E1 and Ma’ale Adumim corridor. Supporters present the arrangement as a transportation and security measure. Opponents say it would permit Israeli settlement expansion while restricting Palestinian access to land and creating a closed zone in the center of the West Bank.
Why the legal dispute is so sharp
Israel controls the planning system in much of the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967. Israel disputes the legal characterization of the territory and argues that permanent borders and sovereignty should be settled through negotiations. Its official legal submissions also emphasize security concerns and the framework created by the Oslo Accords. (israelihl.mfa.gov.il)
The International Court of Justice reached a different conclusion in its July 2024 advisory opinion. The court said Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem violate international law and called for an immediate end to new settlement activity. An advisory opinion is not the same as a binding judgment between two states, but it represents the court’s formal interpretation of the applicable legal rules. (icj-cij.org)
The people living near E1
The area includes Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities, including Khan al-Ahmar. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that settlement construction, demolitions, evictions and movement restrictions could displace residents and limit access to grazing land, schools, water and medical services.
Those pressures are occurring alongside wider violence. OCHA reported more than 1,260 settler-related incidents across 250 Palestinian communities during the first half of 2026, with attacks contributing to injuries, property damage and displacement. The agency says Bedouin and herding communities in Area C have been especially exposed. (ochaopt.org)
The central question is therefore geographic as well as political: whether a future Palestinian state could remain territorially connected if E1, its roads and neighboring settlements become permanently built up. That is why governments opposing the project describe it as a direct threat to the two-state solution. The United Kingdom and Australia reiterated that position in a June 2026 ministerial statement. (gov.uk)