Settling for Conflict: The E1 Project's Perilous Promise The recent joint statement from France, Germany, the UK, and Italy condemning Israel's "E1" settler project has cast a spotlight on the contentious issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
This development would effectively bisect the Palestinian majority east Jerusalem from the rest of the territory, a long standing pattern of settlement expansion that has been repeatedly denounced by the international community as illegal under international law.
The E1 project involves plans to construct around 3,400 homes on sensitive land east of Jerusalem, a decision that is all the more egregious given the current climate of instability in the West Bank.