Area E1 within the municipality of Ma'aleh Adumim in the West Bank will be renamed T1 after US President Donald Trump, the municipality announced on Wednesday.
After the neighborhood is built, it will be called Trump, Mayor Guy Yifrach told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.
The E1 area, also known as Mevaseret Adumim, spans over some 12,000 dunams and is located between the developed part of Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem.
Thoughts about renaming E1 after Trump have been "cooking" for a while, Yifrach said.
"The decision to do it and not feel it was too gimmicky was when I saw him signing the Executive Orders [on his first day in office] and showing that he is really a friend of Israel," Yifrach explained.
'Hopes in Trump'
"On his first day, one of the things that was important to him to do was to remove sanctions against settlers in the West Bank," Yifrach highlighted, adding that Trump's order to sanction the International Criminal Court was also one of the orders that show Trump is a true friend of Israel.
The renaming was to thank the president and also to "God willing, find the timing to finally build the neighborhood," Yifrach explained.
Yifrach highlighted that he also thinks US President Joe Biden is a true friend of Israel, adding that he thinks Biden's administration was friendly to the state.
Asked if he thinks that this gesture could further make Israel into a partisan issue in the US, pushing away Democrats from supporting the country, Yifrach highlighted that gestures for Democratic presidents have also been made.
"Israel must jealously guard its friendship and strategic alliance between The State of Israel and the United States, and not be friends of either side of the political map."
E1s is on the opposite side of Route 1 from the existing area of Ma'ale Adumim, and its development has been frozen as the potential impacts on a future Palestinian state have created international pressure.
The United States, the international community, and the Palestinian Authority have objected to the development, which they argue would prevent the contiguous development of a Palestinian state and render it unviable, while proponents of the development say that it creates contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim and is vital for ensuring Israel's hold on a united Jerusalem.
Yifrach touched on these issues, saying that "the Right in Israel really wants to build in E1 because its claims that this creates territorial contiguity between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem and [because] it dissects a future Palestinian state from north to south."
According to Yifrach, the Left objects to this dissection.
In truth, construction will not actually create this dissection, Yifrach claimed, highlighting that there is a strip of land East of Ma’aleh Adumim and a road to the West.
Yifrach added that he is personally opposed to a Palestinian state, especially in the wake of October 7.
Human rights groups have also highlighted local Bedouin populations, saying development of the area would necessarily include their expulsion.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.