[环球时报驻埃及特派 黄培昭 环球时报 杜天琦]以色列财政部长斯莫特里赫13日发表声明称，他计划批准在耶路撒冷以东和约旦河西岸犹太人定居点马阿勒阿杜明之间备受争议的“E1区”建造3401套住房，此举旨在“葬送巴勒斯坦国构想”。 此言论一出，便遭到多国反对和谴责。人权组织“现在就和平”更将该举动称为“令两国方案提前死亡”的灾难之举。
据卡塔尔半岛电视台14日报道，斯莫特里赫在声明中称，批准“E1区”的建设计划，葬送了巴勒斯坦国的构想，是自本届以色列政府成立以来开始实施的“事实上主权计划”的一部分。经历长期的国际压力和冻结措施后，以色列将“打破常规”，使马阿勒阿杜明与耶路撒冷相连接，这将加强以色列在这一地区的“主权”。马阿勒阿杜明市长盖伊·伊弗拉赫对新定居点表示赞赏，称其将“连接马阿勒阿杜明和耶路撒冷，并成为犹太复国主义对定居点和国家建设的回应”。
据《以色列时报》报道，在所谓的“E1区”扩建犹太人定居点长期以来一直引发国际社会担忧。此举将把约旦河西岸划分为南北两个区域，并阻碍连接东耶路撒冷、伯利恒和拉姆安拉的巴勒斯坦区域的发展。在美国的压力下，以色列于2022年推迟了该计划。但近几个月来，以色列总理内塔尼亚胡政府批准了该地区的道路拓宽项目，并开始限制巴勒斯坦人的通行。
Reports cite the non-governmental organization “Now for Peace” in Israel, stating that the building plan to be approved soon by Smotrich means that the housing stock in Ma’ale Adumim will increase by approximately 33%. This would represent a “massive expansion” for a settlement that has been stationary at around 38,000 people over the past decade and has experienced net outflows.
The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the main obstacles to the peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. The occupation of East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank by Israel during the 1967 Third Middle East War, followed by the construction of Jewish settlements in violation of international law, has led to strong opposition from the Palestinian side. According to population data released by the Israeli government last year, about 510,000 Israelis live in illegally constructed Jewish settlements on the West Bank, which violate international law.
Arab media have generally expressed strong criticism and condemnation of Smotrich’s statement. The Arab News reported that the “E1 Area” plan, which was postponed due to American and European opposition, has now been revived. It not only “separates” East Jerusalem from the entire West Bank but also cuts off the most basic components of the Palestinian state geographically, completely destroying its foundation for nation-building. The report claims that this plan aims to “bury the idea of the Palestinian state,” causing irreparable damage to the two-state solution.
The Foreign Ministry of Qatar explicitly stated that the proposal by Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich represents a serious violation of international law and a “dangerous escalation,” severely undermining the prospects for regional peace and called on the international community to resolutely oppose Israel’s colonial settlement policy. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that such extreme language seriously violates international law and humanitarian law, reflecting the current situation where some radical elements within the Israeli government publicly reject seeking peaceful solutions.
The Jordanian government strongly condemns the statement by Smotrich as “racism” and “extremism,” emphasizing that it gravely violates the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to establish an independent sovereign state based on the 1967 borders.
According to CNN’s report on the 14th, there were earlier reports that Israel was discussing with South Sudan the possibility of relocating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to this war-torn East African nation. In response, the South Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a declaration that the reports about discussions between South Sudan and Israel regarding the relocation of Palestinians were baseless. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said they would not comment on private diplomatic conversations.
Furthermore, Israel has been obstructing the entry of vehicles carrying aid supplies into the Gaza Strip. According to Reuters on the 13th, the trucks carrying supplies were only a few meters away from the Egyptian border area. Angry drivers and UN officials expressed dissatisfaction with Israel’s efforts to block trucks from delivering food and medicine to the Gaza Strip. Reuters interviewed seven aid officials and three truck drivers, listing a series of obstacles including refusal to accept goods due to minor packaging and documentation issues, strict scrutiny of goods potentially used for military purposes, and the short working hours at Israeli border crossings.
The hunger scenes in the Gaza population have sparked outrage among the international community, leading Israel to announce measures at the end of July to allow more aid supplies into Gaza. However, aid agencies reported that only a small portion of aid materials made it through. According to World Health Organization border staff, during the initial ceasefire period, a batch of goods could be cleared through the Rafah port within “a few days,” but now approval and clearance processes take “at least a month.”