Germany is calling on Israel to halt its controversial E1 settlement project, a foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin said on Friday, warning that construction carries the risk of creating more instability in the West Bank and the region.

“The plans for the E1 settlement project, it must be said, are part of a comprehensive intensification of settlement policy in the West Bank, which we have recently observed,” the spokesperson said at a regular government press conference.

“It carries the risk of creating even more instability, as it would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank” as well as jeopardize the prospects of a two-state solution, the spokesperson added.

Development of E1, an open tract of desert between Jerusalem and the mega-settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations.

Plans for the bloc have cleared the final hurdle before construction on the development, according to a government tender reported earlier in the week.

The Palestinians and much of the international community hold Israeli settlements to be illegal and argue that they harm the chances of the Palestinians establishing a viable state in the West Bank.

The E1 project is especially contentious because it will link Ma’ale Adumim to the capital, creating a contiguous bloc of settlements deep into the West Bank.

Critics say it would prevent the potential establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has advanced these processes as a minister in the Defense Ministry with responsibility for civilian affairs in the West Bank, has stated that these and........

© The Times of Israel