(LONDON) — A controversial Israeli settlement plan that would effectively split the West Bank in two is gaining momentum after a key government committee — the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration under the Defense Ministry — gave its approval.

The settlement proposal approved by the Israel Defense Ministry on Wednesday consists of a plan to build 3,400 new housing units in an area known as E1 — an area of land some 4.6 square miles in size separating Jerusalem from the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.

The E1 area is particularly significant, given it is one of the last areas linking the West Bank Palestinian cities of Ramallah in the north and Bethlehem in the south. The construction of Israeli settlements there — which has been proposed for decades but until now not

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