A Palestinian terrorist opened fire in the Israeli town of Ma'aleh Adumim east of Jerusalem on Tuesday, wounding at least four people before being shot and killed, Israeli police said.

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The shooting outside a shopping mall in the sprawling Jewish settlement was the latest in the most violent stretch of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the territory in nearly two decades.

Video: Security footage showing the Ma'aleh Adumim attack

The Palestinian assailant, dressed as a security guard, was shot and killed by an off-duty Israeli police officer who had heard gunshots and rushed to the scene.

Video: The aftermath of the attack in Ma'aleh Adumim / Credit: Yoni Rickner

The Israeli police said the attacker wounded four civilians, who were in light to moderate condition.
Fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank intensified early last year when Israel launched near-nightly raids into Palestinian areas in the West Bank in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

The violence has spiked this year. At least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

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Israel has postponed for the third time a hearing on a proposed housing project in the E1 (East 1) zone east of Jerusalem. Two Israeli officials confirmed to Axios the postponement of the meeting, scheduled for Monday, of the Subcommittee for Objections within the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration.

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Israel's Civil Administration oversees civilian matters, including construction, within Area C of Judea and Samaria.The officials also told the American news website that Netanyahu's administration had notified the United States of the decision on Thursday.

According to Israeli and US officials who spoke to Axios, in the last two weeks the Biden administration and European countries have expressed concern about the project, which would see 3,412 homes built in a new neighborhood of Ma'ale Adumim. The subcommittee meeting on the E1 project was originally scheduled for last September but was postponed until March 27. It was then pushed off to Monday before the latest postponement.

A plan to link Ma'ale Adumim to Jerusalem has been frozen for nearly 30 years due to US and European opposition. At the heart of the controversy is the competition between Israel and the Palestinians over the continuity of construction–east-west (Israel) or north-south (Palestinians).

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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In addition, the road means that Israel will be able to start construction in the E1 zone.

In E1, the project provides the Palestinians with a separate road that is designed to provide them a thoroughfare that does not pass through the Maaleh Adumim bloc.

"Today, we are giving the sovereignty road a green light and taking our first steps to connect Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. The project will improve the quality of life for the residents; prevent needless friction with the Palestinian population; and most important – will allow settlement construction to continue. Applying sovereignty through actions, not words – this is what we'll continue to do," Bennett said.

The defense establishment has been working on the project for approximately a decade. Now that it has received approval, the Defense Ministry will begin the planning stage in conjunction with the Transportation and Road Safety Ministry, which will be responsible for implementing the initiative.

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Netanyahu's announcement would give the go-ahead to 3,500 homes on a parcel of barren hills known as E-1.

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Israel had frozen a plan to build settlements there since 2012 because of objections from the United States, European allies and other world powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

Palestinians say it would cut off its residents from access to east Jerusalem.

"I have given instructions to immediately publish for deposit the plan to build 3,500 housing units in E-1," Netanyahu said in a speech, describing the first phase of a planning process. "This had been delayed for six or seven years."

The E-1 plan would expand the large Jewish community of Maaleh Adumim, effectively connecting it to Jerusalem, about a 15-minute drive away.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Netanyahu's announcement "crossed all red lines" and he called on the international community to act.

In 2005, Netanyahu toured the area to kick off a bid for the leadership of the rightwing Likud party. He told reporters who accompanied him that if he became prime minister, he would defy international pressure and build on the site to create a "Greater Jerusalem" under Israeli control.

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