US lawmakers seek sanctions for Israel’s ‘E1’ West Bank settlement plan

A group of lawmakers in the United States Senate are seeking sanctions against facilitators of Israel’s controversial “E1” settlement programme . The legislation, set to be introduced on Wednesday, calls for punitive actions against individuals and groups that support the settlement project, which would link the Ma’ale Adumim and other illegal Israeli settlements to occupied East Jerusalem. The plan would completely sever East Jerusalem, long seen as the capital of a future Palestinian state, from the West Bank, while effectively cleaving the overall territory in two. The project, if completed, has been seen by supporters and detractors alike as a death blow to future Palestinian statehood.