Americans for Peace Now urges the Biden administration to clearly oppose and act to block the planned construction of hundreds of new settlement homes in a strategic location between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which would thwart the contiguity of a future Palestinian state.

The planned construction project is located in a sensitive spot: between the East Jerusalem settlement neighborhoods of Har Homa and Givat Hamatos. This location would create a semi-continuous wedge of Israeli settlement on the southern lines of East Jerusalem, just north of Bethlehem. Such a wedge would further hinder the north-south contiguity of a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and would obstruct the future division of Jerusalem between Israel and the future Palestine.

As reported today in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Jerusalem’s local planning and building committee will debate a plan for the project and is anticipated to approve the construction of the proposed 540 housing units in that spot.

APN’s President and CEO Hadar Susskind said: “The Biden administration has expressed its staunch opposition to unilateral measures that threaten or complicate a future two-state solution. This settlement construction plan is such a measure, and it merits action by our government. President Biden and his team should weigh in to block this settlement project.”

For more on this strategic location, see reports on the web site of Peace Now, our Israeli sister organization, here,  here, and here.