Democrats push Trump to pressure Israel not to build in key settlement bloc

Dozens of House Democrats are lobbying the Trump administration to pressure Israel not to build in the E1 area linking Jerusalem to Maale Adumim.

By World Israel News Staff

A group of 85 House Democrats urged the Trump administration to intervene against Israeli plans to move forward with settlement construction in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, warning that the project would severely damage prospects for a future Palestinian state.

In a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the lawmakers called on the State Department to use diplomatic pressure to stop Israel from accepting construction bids for the long-contested project east of Jerusalem.

“We write to strongly urge the Administration to use every available diplomatic tool to halt the advancement of settlement construction in the E-1 area of the West Bank,” the lawmakers wrote.

The letter was led by Reps. Mark Pocan and Jan Schakowsky and signed by a mix of progressive and more moderate Democrats, including Reps. Rosa DeLauro, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Greg Casar, Jamie Raskin, Seth Moulton, Mike Levin and Jason Crow.

The lawmakers said the E1 project has reached “a critical and final inflection point,” with Israeli authorities having approved construction plans, issued tenders and moved close to accepting bids and signing contracts.

“Once construction begins, the damage will be irreversible,” they wrote. “The window for meaningful diplomatic intervention is closing rapidly, and we believe it is not too late for the United States to act.”

E1 is a roughly 12-square-kilometer corridor between Jerusalem and the city of Maale Adumim east of the capital.

Critics of Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria say Israeli construction in E1 would split Judea and Samaria into north and south, effectively blocking Palestinian statehood.

The Democrats said the plan would “cement Israeli sovereignty over the geographic heart of the West Bank.”

They also cited related Israeli moves, including infrastructure funding for Ma’ale Adumim and E1, a separate tender for an employment and commercial zone, and plans for a “Sovereignty Road” that would divert Palestinian traffic away from the area.

The lawmakers said that road could cut off about 3 percent of Judea and Samaria from Palestinian access and enable the displacement of Bedouin communities.

The letter also pointed to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s order to begin proceedings to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, an illegal Bedouin shanty town located near the E1 area.

Trump has said he opposes Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria. In September 2025, he said, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope. I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen.”

The lawmakers argued that the E1 plan should be treated as a test of that position.

“Construction in E-1 is annexation in its clearest form,” they wrote. “We urge this administration to take meaningful action to back up this rhetoric.”

They called on the State Department to tell Israel “clearly and at the highest levels” that accepting bids for E1 construction would directly contradict Trump’s stated policy.

A December statement by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries condemned Israeli settlement expansion and said they opposed “any form of annexation” as well as “the approval of the E1 settlement and thousands of new housing units.”