JERUSALEM, January 8, 2026 (WAFA) — Israeli occupation authorities have notified the lawyer representing Bedouin communities and the municipality of Al-Eizariya, east of occupied Jerusalem, of their intention to begin actual implementation of the controversial colonization project known as the “Fabric of Life,” following a 45-day notice issued by the so-called Israeli military prosecution.
In a statement released Thursday evening, the Jerusalem Governorate said the project constitutes a practical step toward implementing Israel’s annexation plan for the E1 area. It aims to create full geographic continuity between the Ma’ale Adumim colony and occupied Jerusalem, effectively severing the northern and central West Bank from the south and absorbing nearly three percent of the West Bank into the so-called “Greater Jerusalem” plan.
The governorate warned that the project would entrench a system of traffic apartheid, whereby Palestinians would be barred from using the main Road No. 1 and forced into an underground tunnel near the Al-Za’ayem military checkpoint, while the surface road would be reserved exclusively for colonists.
It noted that the plan would isolate the communities of Jabal al-Baba and Wadi al-Jamal, as well as the town of Al-Eizariya, and threatens the demolition and evacuation of dozens of structures, at least 43 of which have recently received demolition notices in preparation for the project’s expansion.
The statement added that the occupation authorities are engaging in financial appropriation to fund the project, after Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich approved financing the road, estimated at $98 million, from withheld Palestinian clearance revenues.
The move, it said, is an attempt to mislead the international community by claiming the road serves Palestinians, while engineering plans attached to the notice show it is designed to facilitate colonists' movement and remove visible obstacles at the expense of the Palestinian presence.
The Jerusalem Governorate cautioned that the project represents one of the most severe blows to the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state and called on the international community to take concrete action beyond condemnation to halt the ongoing process of de facto annexation and ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and its surroundings.
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