Israel Advances Plans for East Jerusalem Settlements

Israeli Settlements Upon a Hilltop (NewMatilda)

Israel plans to go forward with the construction of more than 1,200 homes in a settlement in East Jerusalem, according to a statement announced by the Israel Land Authority and spotlighted by watchdog group Peace Now. The statement added that the bidding process would conclude just before President-Elect Biden assumes office and that Israel was “taking advantage of the final weeks of the President Donald Trump’s administration in order to set facts on the ground that will be exceedingly hard to undo in order to achieve peace.” The Trump administration has acted relatively benignly to Israel’s settlement goals.

The proposal to build in the Givat Hamatos area received the go-ahead in 2014 but stalled due to international backlash. The retaliation largely resulted because this settlement would cut into parts of the city belonging to Palestinians. The incoming Biden administration could test the relationship between Israel and the United States, as Biden will likely take a more resolute stance against these illegal Israeli settlements.

Israel’s advancement has also triggered a larger international response. The United Nations’ Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, has stated that this decision has left him “very concerned,” and he reaffirmed the illegality of the settlement’s construction. He also remarked that this would “significantly damage prospects for a future contiguous Palestinian State and for achieving a negotiated two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.”