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Will approval meeting for new Jewish community be postponed again?

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The E1 building plan was originally presented nearly three decades ago, in 1994, and received initial approval from the Civil Administration in 2004.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A planning committee that could approve plans for a new Jewish neighborhood near Jerusalem is scheduled to meet next week, paving the way for building to begin for the long-postponed project – but it’s unclear if the meeting will actually happen.

The Subcommittee for Objections within the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration is currently slated to meet next Monday to hear opposition to the construction of 3,400 new housing units in the E1 area, on the outskirts of a Jerusalem suburb.

Should the plan be approved, the construction would create a new neighborhood in Ma’ale Adumim that would essentially connect the Judean desert city to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority and pro-Palestinian groups are vehemently opposed to the construction, as it would create major geographic challenges for a potential contiguous Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.

Notably, the E1 building plan was originally presented nearly three decades ago, in 1994, and received initial approval from the Civil Administration in 2004.

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Since then, the project has been repeatedly delayed by numerous prime ministers and governments, due to intense pressure from the U.S. and European Union.

While the subcommittee is expected to meet next week, this exact session had already been postponed once in 2023. The meeting was also postponed three times in 2022.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s opposition to building in E1 during an AIPAC summit in Washington D.C. on Monday.

“Settlement expansion clearly presents an obstacle to the horizon of hope we seek,” Blinken said, adding that Jewish building in the region “damages prospects for two states.”

During U.S.-brokered security summits earlier in 2023, Israeli officials reportedly pledged to freeze settlement building and expansion for the foreseeable future.