The mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, an Israeli town in Judea, announced on Tuesday the renaming of municipal lands as Trump One, or T-1, in honor of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Trump’s second term is a unique opportunity to strengthen Jewish communities, especially in Judea and Samaria,” Ma’ale Adumim Mayor Guy Yifrach wrote in a statement announcing the renaming. (The area previously known as E-1, or Mevaseret Adumim).
“We trust Trump and believe that he will promote construction in the region in the coming months,” added Yifrach.
The T-1 area spans approximately 12,000 dunams (4,000 acres) and connects Ma’ale Adumim with Jerusalem. Like all Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, Ma’aleh Adumim is considered illegal by most European Union countries, which have protested plans to expand Ma’ale Adumin specifically.
The Biden administration called the project “inconsistent with international law” last year.
Proponents of the expansion say it will bolster national security and address the housing shortage in the Greater Jerusalem area, as well as increase Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. Successive Israeli governments have, however, delayed the area’s development because of its diplomatic sensitivity.
Yifrach called T-1 is “a strategic asset” for Israel, adding that the fact it’s uninhabited “is a historical folly. The time has come to implement the vision of Israel’s leaders, who saw the development of the area as a strategic goal, and to strengthen the territorial contiguity between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem.”
