Day 688 - Why both sides call E1 the end of the two-state solution

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Legal and settlements reporter Jeremy Sharon joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Yesterday, the United Arab Emirates joined almost two dozen countries, the United Nations and the European Union in condemning Israel for approving the controversial E1 settlement project outside Jerusalem. Sharon explains where the planned 3,400 units would be built and how this could potentially affect negotiations over a two-state solution. He also delves into why this decades-long project is bring fast-tracked right now.

On Friday, a UN hunger monitor declared for the first time that famine had struck northern Gaza. Israel vehemently denied the reports as “lies” and “modern blood libel,” and the United States appeared to dismiss the declaration as part of a “false narrative of deliberate mass starvation” from Hamas. We learn about the United Nations Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, which issued the report, saying that an estimated 514,000 people — or nearly a quarter of the enclave’s population — are experiencing famine. Sharon explains why Israel and the US allege that the findings are flawed and describes how data is gathered.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Smotrich rejoices as settlement plan that ‘erases 2-state delusion’ gets final greenlight

Netanyahu’s office calls Gaza famine declaration a ‘modern blood libel’

Global hunger monitor declares famine in Gaza for 1st time; Israel rejects ‘biased’ report

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: View of the area of the planned E1 project between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim West Bank city, August 21, 2025. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing.
0:06.8	Today is Sunday, August 24th, Day 688 of the war.
0:12.4	Amanda Borschelle Dan here with our legal and settlement reporter, Jeremy Sharon.
0:16.7	Jeremy, hi. Thanks for joining me today.
0:18.8	Hey, Amanda, good morning.
0:20.0	We are going to take a deep look at the recent report released by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification System,
0:29.5	which stated for the first time on Friday that famine has struck the densely populated northern Gaza Strip.
0:37.3	Jeremy will put the report into context with other reports from the past almost two years of war.
0:42.9	But first we're going to learn about E1, a highly controversial settlement project to build some 3,400 housing units between Jerusalem and the Malay Adamim settlement in the West Bank.
0:56.9	All of this and more when we're back.
1:03.3	In this episode of Jewish Crossroads, I speak with Elon Goldenberg, one of the few
1:08.1	policymakers who has shaped U.S. policy on Israel across both the Obama
1:12.4	and Biden administrations. He reflects on the good decisions and the mistakes of the Biden
1:17.4	administration during the war, and he argues that 2026 Israeli elections could be a tipping
1:23.7	point for the relationship between Israel and American jury.
1:33.0	If you get a different government, there is a real opportunity to turn the page.
1:38.6	It's not going to mean American Jews and Israelis, Jews completely align on everything.
1:43.2	Like, if it's like a Bennett-led government, like, you know, you're still going to have challenges, obviously. But, you know, when the people who are playing the role of Vitamar Ben-Gavir and, like, you know, you're still going to have challenges, obviously. But, you know,
1:49.1	when the people who are playing the role of Itamar, Ben-Govir and, like, Smotridge,
1:55.4	Rezaal Smotrich are, you're the Pid and your-Golan, like, that's a different Israeli government.
1:58.6	That can start to move things to a better place.
2:07.2	I'm Ahmed Warsheld Dan here with our legal and settlement reporter Jeremy Sharon.
	...

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