RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL
Israeli authorities have formally notified representatives of Bedouin communities and the municipality of al-Eizariya, east of occupied Jerusalem, of their intention to begin implementing a major settlement project after a 45-day period, the Jerusalem governorate said Thursday.
In a statement, the governorate said the notification concerns the so-called “Life Fabric” project, describing it as a decisive step toward enforcing Israel’s long-standing annexation plans for the E1 area.
The project is designed to create uninterrupted geographic continuity between the illegal settlement of Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, a move that would cut the occupied West Bank into two separate parts and absorb nearly 3% of its territory into Israel’s “Greater Jerusalem” scheme, it said.
Palestinian officials warned that the plan would institutionalize a system of traffic segregation, forcing Palestinians off Highway 1 and diverting them through an underground tunnel near the Zaeem checkpoint, while reserving the main road exclusively for illegal settlers.
According to the governorate, the project would further isolate Bedouin communities in Jabal al-Baba and Wadi al-Jamal, as well as the town of al-Eizariya, and could lead to the demolition and evacuation of dozens of structures that have recently received at least 43 preliminary notices.
The statement said the project, estimated to cost about $98 million, is being financed using Palestinian clearance revenues withheld by Israeli authorities under decisions by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. While Israel has sought to market the project internationally as serving Palestinian needs, planning documents show it is primarily intended to ease settler movement, it added.
The governorate warned that the project poses a “direct and severe threat” to the possibility of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state and urged the international community to take meaningful action beyond expressions of concern.
Israel first approved the “Life Fabric” project in 2012. The plan also includes an industrial zone northwest of the area, a police station, a landfill, settlement housing units, hotel facilities, and a biblical park, along with public spaces.
Parts of the project have already been carried out near the separation wall east of the town of Anata toward the village of Zaeem, while additional sections are planned from Zaeem to al-Eizariya.
Over the years, Israel has issued multiple decisions advancing settlement construction in the E1 area, most notably in 2020, when plans for 3,500 settlement units were announced before being frozen under international pressure.
Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, Palestinian figures showed.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.