Mada al-Carmel – The Arab Center for Applied Social Research has published a new position paper titled “Construction in the E1 Area: Preventing Palestinian Geographical Contiguity,” co-authored by Dr. Mtanes Shihadeh, Director of Mada’s Israel Studies Program, and Ikram Mohammed, Research Assistant at Mada al-Carmel.
The authors argue that the Israeli government continues to exploit the post-October 7, 2023 situation to impose a new geopolitical and demographic reality in the occupied West Bank, alongside the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, Israel has increased the frequency of its military incursions into towns and refugee camps in the West Bank. It has destroyed entire sections of these camps, expanded settlements, and further fragmented the territory. Perhaps the most dangerous decision by the Israeli government came at the end of August 2025, when it approved plans for construction in the so-called “E1 area,” on the pretext of retaliating against certain European countries’ plans to recognize a Palestinian state. On August 20, 2025, the Settlements Subcommittee of Israel’s Civil Administration approved the advancement of a construction project in the E1 area, which includes building 3,400 new housing units for Israeli settlers between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.
This paper follows the Israeli government’s decision to approve construction plans in E1—a decision that took nearly two decades due to the sensitivity of the area and the strategic implications for a potential political resolution based on a two-state solution. The paper argues that this decision is one the most dangerous made by Israel’s far-right government’s since October 7, because construction in this area will further divide the West Bank, effectively eliminating geographical contiguity between its south and north, and turn densely populated Palestinian areas into Bantustans encircled by Israeli settlements.
To read the full paper in English, click here.
To read the full paper in Arabic, click here.
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