Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the decision to indefinitely postpone plans for settlement construction in the strategic West Bank area known as E-1.

E-1 is a broad strip of land located east of Jerusalem, inside the West Bank, between East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim. That area is a crucial corridor for Palestinian communal life, connecting Ramallah and the northern West Bank to Bethlehem and the southern West Bank, and likewise connecting these areas to East Jerusalem. It is vital for securing contiguity for a future Palestinian state. Therefore, Israeli settlement construction there will severely impede prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

APN has actively pushed the administration and Congress to oppose construction in E-1, including by supporting a congressional letter urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to act to stop Israeli plans for imminent construction start in E-1.

APN’s President and CEO Hadar Susskind said: “There’s a reason that E-1 is called the ‘Doomsday Settlement.’ Building there would decimate the hopes for a viable Palestinian state. APN worked hard to make sure that the Biden administration spoke out against this and, according to reports, their intercession is what made the difference. This shows once again that US leadership matters.”