Ever since Israel began carrying out its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, it has achieved certain foreign policy objectives that were previously out of reach.

Since October 2023, Israel — with the help of American and European weapons — has annihilated entire Gaza, conducted extensive military invasions and expanded illegal Zionist settlements in the occupied West Bank, significantly weakened rival Hezbollah in Lebanon, occupied more territory in Syria, bombed Yemen's Houthis, wiped out senior leaders of Iran in a 12-day war, and seized control of Gaza's frontiers with Egypt, in a major violation of its security agreements with Cairo.

Emboldened by the world's inaction and complicity of its allies, Israel has given final approval for its controversial East1 (or E1) plan settlement project that would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem and split the Palestinian territory in two.

Israeli hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also asserted that he is on a "historic and spiritual mission" and is "very much" attached to the vision of "Greater Israel" or so-called "Eretz Israel" — a Zionist expansionist vision that lays claim to the occupied West Bank, Gaza, parts of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, as well as Türkiye.

Analysts contend that both plans advocated by Israel are perilous and designed to undermine the widely accepted two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which originates from Israel's occupation of historic Palestine since 1948.

"We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the (Israeli) government is driving us forward at full speed," Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement group, tells TRT World in a statement.

The Netanyahu regime's E1 settlements plan is "deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution… guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed," it says.

Yonatan Mizrachi, who works as the Settlement Watch project co-director at Peace Now, tells TRT World that the E1 plan endangers the future of both Palestinians and Israelis.

"It is dangerous, because the only political solution we see for Israel is to have a Palestinian state. E1 is a big obstacle for this solution and threat for the entire region," Mizrachi adds.

Netanyahu is exploiting the fact that the US is applying virtually no pressure on Tel Aviv, furthering his attempts to eliminate the possibility of an independent Palestine, he says.

"(Netanyahu) wants to prevent a Palestinian state, and he can do that when the American administration is not stopping him from building in the WB (West Bank)," Mizrachi adds.

He dismisses the idea that the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, would be able to resist Israeli plans independently, stating, "Only international pressure can help the PA."

The Israeli regime recently approved the E1 plan, which aims to construct nearly 7,000 illegal settler units in and around the Ma'ale Adumim settlement.

This plan effectively severs Palestinian territorial continuity between Ramallah and Bethlehem.

The E1 plan, conceived over two decades ago, proposes construction across 12 square kilometres east of occupied East Jerusalem, linking it to Ma'ale Adumim, an illegal settlement bloc.

A plan meticulously crafted over two years

E1 has long been a diplomatic flashpoint. And Israel has been using it as a bargaining tool against Palestinians.

Successive US presidents have cautioned it would derail peace talks. In 2012, US intervention halted Israel's E1 advancement after Palestine's UN status upgrade.

But Israel, emboldened by recent regional gains and US tacit support, now views the E1 plan as potentially viable.

The E1 settlement plan is by no means a new one, Nizar Farsakh, a former adviser to Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas, tells TRT World.

"The E1 plan has been around for almost two decades, and it was mostly used as a defiance against calls for a settlement freeze," says Farsakh, who is also a lecturer at George Washington University in Washington DC and a key member of the Palestinian negotiations with Israel.

Netanyahu approved the plan to appease his hard-line and notorious ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, says Farsakh, adding, "It seems this time it is in response to several European states declaring that they plan to recognise the State of Palestine."

On May 28, 2024, Norway, Ireland, and Spain announced recognition of Palestine. Slovenia followed suit on June 4, 2024.

France has announced it will recognise Palestine in September 2025. The UK and Canada have announced conditional recognition of Palestine by September 2025.

Malta has stated it will recognise Palestine at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September 2025, while San Marino has announced a process of gradual recognition of Palestine, aiming to complete it by the end of 2025.

Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Finland are among European nations signalling a positive inclination towards recognising Palestinian sovereignty.

For Palestine, Israel's E1 plan is an existential threat, and its leadership has made it unequivocally clear that it will not compromise on this issue when it comes to the sovereignty of their state.

"They (the Palestinians) are willing to entertain a special administrative regime that allows movement and access for economic and religious reasons, but sovereignty will need to be Palestinian, and it needs to be contiguous with the rest of the state," Farsakh says.

"That is, it cannot be an exclave the way Mount Scopus was for Israel in the period between the two wars, 1948 -1967," he says, referring to a mountain in Jerusalem that received special protection by the UN within a Jordanian-held territory.

Broader dangers of 'Eretz Israel'

Aside from the E1 plan, another vicious Israeli project that could drag the entire Arab world into chaos and bloodshed is the settler-colonial "Eretz Israel" plan.

This plan, along with the E1 settlements project, not only endangers the prospects of a two-state solution but also threatens the prospects of peace in the entire region between Israel and Arab countries, including those that have already signed peace treaties with Israel, most notably Jordan and Egypt.

"Even the minimalist version of Eretz Israel would entail occupying new Arab lands. Therefore, Arab states could argue that reference to 'Greater Israel' is considered a threat and is therefore illegal according to international law," Farsakh says.

Farsakh cautions that disunity among Arab states could hinder resistance if Israel occupies more Arab territories.

"In general, Arab countries have not united in a fight since the 1973 war when Egypt and Syria coordinated secretly with other Arab states to conduct a surprise attack on Israel. The Gulf War coalition in 1991 was coordinated and led by the US in which the Arab states were torn between supporting Kuwait and fighting Iraq," he says.

"Now, as to Israel occupying more Arab lands, I can see it happening in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River and several parts of Syria as I don't think their armies are capable of confronting Israel."

Occupying parts of Jordan presents unique challenges, primarily due to its strategic importance to the US, he says.

"As to Jordan, the Israeli right has always claimed that both sides of the Jordan River should be Israeli but executing that won't be simple. Again, the Jordanian army is not a match to the Israeli one, but Jordan is an important asset for the Americans," Farsakh says.

He warns Israel might occupy water-rich areas belonging to Jordan and Syria, citing security concerns as justification for more land grab.