UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Denounces the E1 Settlement Plan and Demands Immediate Halt of All Illegal Settlement Activity

PRESS STATEMENT OF THE UN PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE BUREAU

UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Denounces the E1 Settlement Plan and Demands Immediate Halt of All Illegal Settlement Activity

New York, 28 August 2025 | The Bureau of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People rejects and condemns the Israeli Government’s so-called E1 settlement plan in the occupied East Jerusalem. The approval of over 3,400 illegal housing units in a critical area linking East Jerusalem with Ramallah and Bethlehem, and connecting the northern and southern West Bank, strikes at the heart of Palestinian territorial continuity, severely restricting and violating the freedom of movement and further fragmenting and isolating Palestinian communities. This illegal plan must be stopped.

The Committee Bureau demands that Israel, the occupying Power, immediately halt all settlement activities, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and all annexation measures. The UN Security Council, in its resolution 2334 (2016), declared Israeli settlements flagrant violation under international law demanding Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities. Moreover, it called on all States to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967, which the Committee Bureau reminds that Israel has absolutely no sovereignty rights in, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice in its 19 July 2024 Advisory Opinion.

By severing East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, this illegal settlement plan endangers the viability and existence of the Palestinian State and further entrenches Israel’s illegal occupation, paving the way for further forced displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian population. This blatant land grab constitutes a grave breach of international law and is a direct challenge to decades of international consensus. It comes at a moment when East Jerusalem is already under siege, with families deprived of their homes, livelihoods, and rights and the Palestinian presence in the City endangered.

The resumption of the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution at the United Nations on 22 September, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, presents a timely and vital opportunity for decisive action, to reiterate the international community’s steady commitment to the two-State solution and mobilize renewed international support toward ending the Israeli unlawful occupation. The UN Palestinian Rights Committee stands ready to contribute actively to this effort and strongly supports the objectives of the Conference. Our goal remains clear: the full realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian People, their right to return, and continue contributing to the two-State solution – Israel and an independent, contiguous, viable and sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders, based on the pre-1967 lines, in conformity with the relevant UN resolutions.

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Read more about this topic:

• Secretary-General warns settlement plan in E1 area of the occupied West Bank threatens two-State solution
• UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: E1 settlement plan, another unlawful step to consolidate the annexation of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem [EN,AR]