The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now warned: “Under the cover of war, Smotrich and his messianic minority are building a settlement doomed for evacuation in any agreement. E1’s sole aim is to sabotage a political solution and rush toward a binational apartheid state.”
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control, also condemned the approval of the E1 plans.
“This plan will isolate Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, submerge it in massive settlement blocs” and fragment the West Bank “into disconnected enclaves resembling open-air prisons”, the PA’s foreign ministry said.
It also alleged that the approval constituted “official Israeli involvement in the crimes of settlement, annexation, genocide, and forcible displacement” – accusations that Israel has long rejected.
The PA’s foreign ministry appealed for “genuine international action, including sanctions, to compel Israel to halt its colonial schemes (…) and respect the international consensus on resolving the Palestinian question”.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the E1 plans would, if implemented, “would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution”.
“The Israeli government must reverse this decision,” he added.
King Abdullah II of Jordan also rejected the E1 plans, saying: “The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace.”
A German government spokesman said settlement construction violated international law and “hinders a negotiated two-state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank”.
There was no immediate comment from the US.
However, when asked by Israel’s Army Radio on Monday about the Trump administration’s stance on E1, ambassador Mike Huckabee said: “Whether or not there should be massive development in E1 is a decision for the government of Israel to make. So we would not try to evaluate the good or the bad of that.”
“As a general rule, it is not a violation of international law. And it is also incumbent on all of us to recognise that Israelis have a right to live in Israel.”
The July 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice said Israel’s “continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful” and that the country was “under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence… as rapidly as possible”.
Israel’s prime minister said at the time that the court had made a “decision of lies” and insisted that “the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land”.