The E1 Plan: The Silent Annexation of the West Bank After the Ceasefire Myth
The latest statement by the Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission clearly lays out the situation:
“Israel is annexing the West Bank. They have seized 531 dunams of land.”
While narratives of a “ceasefire” are being circulated regarding Gaza, the occupying power has accelerated annexation efforts in the West Bank. As airstrikes in Gaza continue at a reduced pace, land confiscation, settlement plans, and steps aimed at permanently reshaping the geography have gained momentum. The seizure of 531 dunams of Palestinian land has become the latest and most concrete example of this process.
This confiscation decision is not an isolated incident. On the contrary, it is part of Israel’s long-standing, step-by-step policy of de facto annexation. Carried out under the pretext of “security” or “military necessity,” these practices aim to fragment the West Bank and force Palestinians into increasingly unlivable enclaves within their own land.
At the center of this process lies the E1 settlement plan. Located between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, this area—once implemented—would split the West Bank into northern and southern parts. East Jerusalem would be severed from the rest of Palestine, and the natural contiguity between Palestinian cities would be cut off. Palestinians would be forced into Israeli-controlled corridors and tunnels.
For this reason, the E1 project is described as the grave of the two-state solution and any prospect of peace.
What is unfolding in the West Bank alongside ceasefire rhetoric points not toward peace, but toward permanent annexation. Home demolitions, land confiscation, settlement expansion, and now the new decision to seize 531 dunams of land—all are components of the same plan.
What is happening today makes one thing unmistakably clear:
The ceasefire is a fairy tale; the reality on the ground is a quiet yet determined process of annexation. The West Bank is not being redrawn on maps, but through bulldozers, decrees, and settlements.
And as long as this silence continues, projects like E1 will keep burying not only Palestinian land, but also the very possibility of peace.