{"id":320430,"date":"2026-09-28T14:47:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=320430"},"modified":"2026-10-06T14:54:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:54:53","slug":"relentless-expansion-of-israeli-settlements-threatens-two-state-solution-senior-un-official-warns-security-council-citing-e1-plan","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/relentless-expansion-of-israeli-settlements-threatens-two-state-solution-senior-un-official-warns-security-council-citing-e1-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Relentless Expansion\u2019 of Israeli Settlements Threatens Two-State Solution, Senior Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Official Warns Security Council, Citing E1 Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

10230th Meeting (AM)<\/p>\n

SC\/16464<\/p>\n

28 September 2026<\/p>\n

The relentless advance of the E1 settlement plan represents \u201can existential threat to the two-State solution\u201d, the Security Council heard today, during the organ\u2019s quarterly meeting on the implementation of\u00a0resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016)<\/a>, which calls on Israel to cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank fuels tension, impedes Palestinians\u2019 access to land and threatens the viability of a two-State solution,\u201d said Ramiz Alakbarov, Acting Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, citing the Secretary-General\u2019s remarks on his latest report, which characterized the situation as \u201cmorally, legally and politically intolerable\u201d. \u00a0Condemning the E1 settlement plan, he reiterated that Israeli settlements in the\u00a0Occupied Palestinian Territory \u201chave no legal validity and must cease\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cWe must recommit ourselves to a two-State solution before it is too late,\u201d he warned, calling for an end to the unlawful occupation and a resolution to the conflict ahead of the approaching ten-year anniversary of the resolution.<\/p>\n

In his update, the Acting Special Coordinator detailed the \u201chigh levels\u201d of settlement activities during the reporting period, reporting that\u00a04,570\u00a0housing units in Area\u00a0C of the West Bank and 3,515\u00a0in East Jerusalem were approved.\u00a0 The Israeli Housing Ministry also issued tenders for 2,240\u00a0housing units in Area\u00a0C, including 1,234\u00a0in the E1 area near Jerusalem. \u00a0On 14\u00a0July, the Israeli Finance Minister announced that the Cabinet approved a new settlement in the northern West Bank, allocating 1.3 billion shekels ($430\u00a0million) to temporary housing units in dozens of new settlements throughout the West Bank, he reported.\u00a0 Drawing attention to \u201cunprecedented seizure orders for privately owned land in Area\u00a0A near Qabatiya, south of Jenin city to construct the road linking Noa and Emek Dotan, two recently approved settlements, he said: \u00a0\u201cThis marked the first reported seizure of Area A land explicitly for settlement infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to detail recent\u00a0demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures, including the seizure and demolition of 536\u00a0structures in the West Bank, displacing 73\u00a0Palestinians, including 34\u00a0children; \u201ca high number of fatal incidents [against Palestinian civilians] precluding me from detailing all of them\u201d; and a \u201chighly fragile ceasefire\u201d with Israeli forces continuing military operations west of the so-called \u201cYellow Line\u201d, including small-arms fire and quadcopter fire, as well as shelling, killing 360\u00a0Palestinians, including women and children, during the reporting period.<\/p>\n

\u201cSettler violence reached unprecedented levels during the reporting period, often in the presence of Israeli forces,\u201d he continued, noting 630\u00a0settler attacks, leading to the deaths of 11\u00a0Palestinians, displacement of 344\u00a0across 17\u00a0communities. \u00a0He also voiced alarm over the \u201ccritical\u201d fiscal situation of the Palestinian Authority that cannot deliver basic services due to the withholding by Israel of $6\u00a0billion in clearance revenue and the Israeli forces\u2019 unlawful entry into United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u2019s\u00a0(Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA) Kalandia Training Centre<\/a> in occupied East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Peace Is a Historical Necessity, Not Wishful Thinking<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cPeace is not a naive thought or wishful thinking; it is a historical necessity,\u201d declared Maoz Inon, peace activist, Co-Executive Director of InterAct International and co-author of\u00a0The Future Is Peace<\/em>, noting that his parents were among the first victims of the Hamas attacks at Netiv HaAsara. \u00a0\u201cOn the morning of 7\u00a0October\u00a0[2023], my world collapsed,\u201d he said, adding that his family\u00a0made a \u201cconscious choice to reject vengeance\u201d, as revenge \u201conly feeds an endless cycle of trauma and bloodshed\u201d.<\/p>\n

While Hamas committed atrocious war crimes on 7 October\u00a02023, the Israeli Government exploited these atrocities to wage a war of revenge, he said, stressing: \u00a0\u201cThey weaponized our pain.\u201d \u00a0He recalled that he founded InterAct and wrote\u00a0The Future Is Peace<\/em>\u00a0together with Aziz Abu Sarah \u2014 a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, who lost his brother due to torture in an Israeli prison \u2014 to prove that \u201ctrauma can heal and despair can transform into hope\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shot at by Israeli Soldiers at Age Eight, Yet Refuses to Be Enemies<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Aziz Abu Sarah, peace activist, Co-Executive Director of InterAct International, recalled the terror of experiencing \u201cthe expansion of settlements first hand\u201d in the outskirts of Jerusalem. \u00a0At the age of seven, \u201cmy mom snatched me out of bed and hid me on the roof, as settlers marched through our neighbourhood, torching cars and homes\u201d, he said. \u00a0Recalling being \u201cafraid to go to school, because it meant crossing the checkpoint, he said, \u201cI was shot at for the first time when I was eight.\u201d \u00a0His brother \u201cwas detained and beaten to death by Israeli soldiers when I was 10\u201d, he said, stressing: \u00a0\u201cMy experience should not be normal for any child.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and Maoz Inon began their alliance \u201cby refusing to be enemies. \u00a0We believe this is not Israelis versus Palestinians,\u201d he said, adding: \u00a0\u201cIt is a choice between those who believe in peace, justice and equality, and those who do not.\u201d \u00a0He called on the Council a civilian-protection mechanism, pointing to the 1,000\u00a0deaths in Gaza since the ceasefire, and to exercise maximum pressure to protect Palestinian farmers during the coming olive harvest.<\/p>\n

Two-State Solution Won\u2019t Survive on Declarations Alone, Calls for Action<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Liberia\u2019s representative pointed out that the two-State solution \u201cwill not survive on declarations alone\u201d. \u00a0Settlements the Council declared to possess \u201cno legal validity\u201d have not paused; they have multiplied, he stated, adding: \u00a0\u201cWe cannot build tomorrow\u2019s peace while bulldozing today\u2019s geography.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, Somalia\u2019s delegate condemned\u00a0settlement-expansion and annexation, including the E1 settlement plan, stressing: \u00a0\u201cNo lasting stability while settlements expand and no credible political horizon while the two-State solution is dismantled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s delegate also acknowledged a \u201cwidening gap\u201d between diplomatic progress and the realities on the ground, highlighting the one-year anniversary of the New York Declaration supporting the two-State solution. \u00a0Urging Israel to stop the E1 settlement project along with all settlement expansions, she pointed to the unprecedented levels of settler violence.<\/p>\n

The current trajectory in the West Bank \u201cdoes not lead to peace and stability\u201d, concurred\u00a0Latvia\u2019s representative, including illegal settlement-expansion deliberately fragmenting the West Bank and undermining the viability of the two-State solution. \u00a0She called on Israel to address rising settler violence in the West Bank, halt settlement-expansion, including in the E1 area, and fully respect its legal obligations and commitments, \u201cincluding the historic status quo arrangements governing the Holy Sites in Jerusalem\u201d.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s delegate, meanwhile, emphasized the \u201cclarion call\u201d from the international community for \u201cceasefire over conflict, dialogue over hate and a two-State solution over occupation and annexation\u201d. \u00a0Every effort must be made to avoid a collapse of the West Bank, he said, denouncing Palestinian evictions and livelihoods and lives lost and calling on Israel to \u201ccease and rescind its settlement projects\u201d, a view echoed by the Russian Federation\u2019s speaker, who said \u201ca consistent path taken by Israel to create irreversible realities on the ground is a gross violation of Council resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016)\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime, in this context, is not neutral,\u201d said the representative of Panama, noting that it is counterproductive to continue actions and measures liable to alter the territorial and demographic reality in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Events on the ground will continue worsening the conditions in which a peace process will, one day, have to unfold, he added.<\/p>\n

Calls for Urgent Action in West Bank, Gaza<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The United Kingdom\u2019s delegate was among speakers highlighting recent measures by their countries to protect the two-State solution, citing her Government\u2019s intention, alongside international partners to legislate to ban the import of goods from illegal settlements and bring sanctions against those who finance them. \u00a0\u201cWe are approaching the point of no return with the E1 settlement project,\u201d she said, calling for urgent action to reverse policies that are crippling the West Bank economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese measures send an important message: unlawful settlement activities and those who sustain them must face consequences,\u201d chimed in the delegate of Pakistan, welcoming such steps. \u00a0Likewise, Greece\u2019s delegate said such activity \u201cmust cease\u201d, with all perpetrators of violence held accountable, including against Christian communities.<\/p>\n

Bahrain\u2019s representative, underscoring the need to respect the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites, emphasized the \u201cneed to lift all obstacles to humanitarian and medical assistance\u201d which is a \u201cshared international responsibility\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot accept this,\u201d said\u00a0France\u2019s delegate, Council President for September, warning of the risk that strikes on Gaza\u2019s civilian population and infrastructure will continue, that the enclave will remain in ruins, that the West Bank will be irreparably \u201ccarved up\u201d and that the two-State solution will vanish. \u00a0Also highlighting measures\u00a0taken with the United Kingdom and Canada, he said the Council\u00a0bears the \u201cenormous\u201d responsibility of \u201cbringing back from the brink the two-State solution\u201d. \u00a0Hamas needs to disarm, Israel must withdraw and the\u00a0National Committee for the Administration of Gaza must deploy, he said, calling on Israel to take up a disarmament plan that is on the table.<\/p>\n

President Donald J. Trump and the United States opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank, said the United States\u2019 delegate, stating: \u00a0\u201cHowever, certain United Nations Member States enact or propose measures targeting businesses in parts of Jerusalem, Golan Heights and the West Bank.\u201d \u00a0On that, she cited Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said he does not wish to see any destabilizing activity in the West Bank lest it impacts the ability to make progress on President Trump\u2019s Gaza Peace Plan. \u00a0In that context, she called on all members to lend support for the 20-point Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict brokered by her country and endorsed by the Council in November\u00a02025.<\/p>\n

Palestine:\u00a0 Annexation Not a Future Threat, E1 Must Be Stopped<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe must be clear: \u00a0annexation is not simply a future threat,\u201d said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, voicing alarm at the fast pace at which it is being advanced on the ground, through violence, settlements, infrastructure, displacement and land seizures. \u00a0\u201cThe E1 is a culmination of this plan,\u201d he said, adding: \u00a0\u201cIts aim is clear as spelled out by Israeli leaders.\u00a0 Kill the Palestinian State. \u00a0And with it any prospect for peace.\u201d \u00a0Echoing the Secretary-General\u2019s characterization of E1 as \u201cas an existential threat to the two-State solution\u201d, he underscored: \u00a0\u201cE1 must be stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

International law cannot operate according to the identity of the violator, he added, calling for the ceasefire to be upheld. \u00a0In addition, he cited\u00a0the obligations of third States in the 19\u00a0July\u00a02024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, stressing: \u00a0\u201cIn short, no money, no trade, no arms to prolong the unlawful occupation and sanctions and measures to bring it to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel Says It Lacks a Partner Committed to Peace<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For her part, Israel\u2019s delegate noted that, next month, her country\u00a0will mark three years since \u201cHamas\u2019s 7\u00a0October\u00a0[2023] massacre\u201d.\u00a0 The Council still has not designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, she said, stressing: \u00a0\u201cIt undermines the very message this Council sends against terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Israel condemns all forms of violence in Judea and Samaria, the obstacle to peace has not been the Israeli communities, but the \u201cabsence of a partner committed to peace,\u201d she said. \u00a0Hamas openly recruits and praises child soldiers, she said, adding that the organization operates not only in Gaza, but also in Judea and Samaria. \u00a0Tehran is responsible for more than half of funds smuggled into those areas to fund Hamas activities, she added.\u00a0 Averring that the Palestinian Authority continues its \u201cpay for slay policies\u201d, on which it spent $150\u00a0million in\u00a02025, she stressed: \u00a0\u201cPeace cannot be built when terrorism is tolerated, rewarded or ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

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