This week a relatively small area of hills just east of Jerusalem has become the subject of an international diplomatic dispute.

The issue concerns an area known as E1, between Jerusalem and the Israeli city of Ma’ale Adumim.

Israel has opened tenders for the construction of around 1,200 new homes there, provoking strong criticism from Britain’s left wing government and other European governments.

On Wednesday 19 August 2026, the BBC reported the story under the headline:
“Israel opens up bids for highly-sensitive West Bank settlement project.”
The BBC described the plans as involving the “area east of Jerusalem”, an area which has been the subject of international controversy for many years.

Then, on Thursday 20 August 2026, Sky News carried the headline:
“Miliband clashes with Israel over controversial West Bank settlement.”
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the Israeli decision an “unacceptable and destructive act”, saying that Britain would not “stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution.” He argued that the E1 development could separate the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
The dispute quickly became heated.

Also on 20 August 2026, The Telegraph reported:
“Israel accuses ‘patronising’ Miliband of damaging relationship with UK.”
Israel accused the British government of “turning a blind eye” to Palestinian terrorism, while Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar strongly rejected the British criticism.

Later that day The Times of Israel reported:
“France, Germany, UK and Italy condemn Israel’s E1 West Bank settlement plan.”
A joint statement from the four countries described the Israeli decision as “unacceptable.”


Then on Friday 21st August the BBC published another article entitled “Israel re-establishes closed West Bank settlement, defying growing international protests”

The article reported that “A new generation of Israeli settlers has returned to the settlement of Kadim, in the occupied West Bank, two decades after it was closed by a previous Israeli government.

Thirty "pioneer families" had arrived in the settlement on Thursday from Tel Aviv, according to the regional settlers' council, riding a wave of Jewish nationalism driven by Israel's current government.

They came in small groups, some under military escort, blue and white Israeli flags fluttering from their cars as they passed Palestinian villages and farmlands. Some dragged trailers loaded with bedding, furniture and building material.

Israel's government has overturned a 20-year ban on Jewish settlements around Jenin. Palestinian residents are watching the new push on settlement expansion here with fear.

All Israeli settlements and settler outposts are illegal under international law. Outposts are also illegal under Israeli law, though are often supported by state services and funding.”

Whatever our political views on Israeli settlements, there is something remarkable here for anyone interested in Bible prophecy. This controversy concerns Jewish people building homes on the mountains around Jerusalem - their historic Biblical homeland.

And those two things, the ‘mountains of Israel’ and ‘Jerusalem’ becoming an international controversy - feature prominently in some of the Bible’s most important prophecies concerning the latter days.

The Mountains of Israel

To understand why this is significant, we need to begin with the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel lived approximately 2,600 years ago, at a time when the Jewish people were being driven from their land by the Babylonian power. Yet, moved by Gods spirit power, (2Peter 1:21) Ezekiel penned words which proclaimed that a day would come when Israel would be restored.

Remarkably, he addressed a prophecy specifically to the mountains of Israel:
“But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.”
Ezekiel 36:8

He continues:
“And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded.”
Ezekiel 36:10

The prophetic picture is clear.

The Jewish people, having been scattered, would, one day, return. The land would become productive. Ancient cities would once again be inhabited.

For centuries that must have seemed extraordinary. The Jewish people were scattered throughout the world and had no state of their own. The land was left as a wasteland. Dominated by foreign powers. The Romans and then the Ottomans. Then after World War 1 the British pushed the Ottomans out of the land and they goverend it under the British mandate. In 1948 the Brits withdrew and the state of Israel was declared by the Jews living in the land. Today Israel exists again, and millions of Jews live in the very land from which their ancestors were dispersed.
But Ezekiel goes further.

Two chapters later he describes a great invasion of Israel which takes place in what he calls “the latter years.”

Ezekiel 38:8 says:
“After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel…”

Notice those words:
“Against the mountains of Israel.”

The Bible describes an Israel which has first been “gathered out of many people”, and then an invasion directed against its mountainous heartland.

The mountains were not part of the initial 1948 boundaries of the state of Israel. These were taken by Israel after the 1967 “6 Day War”. In that war Israel defended it’s boarders and took the high lands which their enemies were positioned on. This included Jerusalem and the mountains of Judea and Samaria - known as the West Bank area because they are West of the Jordan River.

This is why developments in the hills of Judaea and Samaria are so interesting.

The E1 area is part of the mountainous region around Jerusalem. It lies in exactly the sort of geography contemplated by Ezekiel's prophecy.

Kadim, the Israeli settlement, abandoned years ago but which now is being repopulated by Jewish Pioneer families is also in this area.

Now, to be clear, we are not suggesting that the announcement of 1,200 homes is itself the specific fulfilment of Ezekiel 38. The point is that for an army to invade a restored Jewish population upon the mountains of Israel, the Jewish people first have to be back upon those mountains. That situation now exists.

Therefore these current events are a part of a wider narrative as we see the prophecies slowly being fulfilled. Bit by bit.

Jerusalem a problem for the world

There is another aspect of this week's new’s stories which is just as striking.

It is not simply that Jews are living upon these hills. It is that the question of where they build, and particularly what happens around Jerusalem, repeatedly attracts the attention of governments throughout the world.

That brings us to the prophet Zechariah.
Zechariah describes a time when Jerusalem would become a unique international problem:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about…”
Zechariah 12:2

Then comes one of the most remarkable descriptions of Jerusalem in Bible prophecy:
“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people…”
Zechariah 12:3

Jerusalem then is called “a burdensome stone”.
Something heavy. Something difficult to handle. Something which nations continually attempt to deal with but cannot finally resolve.

Is that not an extraordinary description of modern Jerusalem?

For decades, international leaders have attempted to solve what is often called the Jerusalem question.
- Who should control the city?
- What should Israel's borders be?
- Should East Jerusalem become the capital of a Palestinian state?
- Should there be a two state solution?
- Should the city effectively be divided?
- Where should Israeli Jews be permitted to build?

Again and again Jerusalem returns to the centre of international diplomacy.

And this week's E1 story is another example.

Ed Miliband's objection is significant precisely because the proposed development affects the territory between the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem remains, to use Zechariah's language, a “burdensome stone.”

“Parted my land”

Another prophet, Joel, adds an important detail.

Joel chapter 3 describes events taking place after the restoration of the Jewish people.

The prophecy begins:
“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem…”
Joel 3:1

That establishes the setting.
Judah and Jerusalem have been restored.

Then God says:
“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat… [Heb = God’s Judgement]”
Joel 3:2

Why are these nations brought into judgment?

The verse continues:
“…for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”

That final phrase is particularly interesting:
“Parted my land.”

The division of the land is at the heart of the modern Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
The internationally favoured solution has for many years been the creation of two states, Israel and a Palestinian state, involving a division of the territory. The Palestinian’s have never agreed to this however as they do not recognise the right for Israel to exist at all.

That is also why E1 is so controversial.

Sky News reported that Miliband believed the development “cut across the heart of Palestine” and risked separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

In other words, the international argument is fundamentally about the future division of the land.

The present situation is surely remarkable.
The Jewish people have returned.
Judah and Jerusalem have been restored as centres of Jewish life.
And the division of that same land has become one of the great diplomatic controversies of our age.

The final crisis around Jerusalem

Zechariah's prophecy eventually moves from diplomatic controversy to war.

In Zechariah 14 we read:
“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle…”
Zechariah 14:2

And then:
“Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.”
Zechariah 14:3

Put these Bible passages together and a remarkable picture emerges.

Ezekiel sees Israel restored from among the nations and an invasion descending upon “the mountains of Israel.”

Joel sees Judah and Jerusalem restored and the nations brought into judgment in connection with God's land being “parted.”

Zechariah sees Jerusalem becoming a “burdensome stone” to the nations, eventually culminating in a great conflict centred upon the city.

These prophets wrote thousands of years ago - and yet the geographical conditions they describe exist today:
- Israel has been restored.
- The Jewish people are living again upon the ancient mountains.
- Jerusalem is once again at the centre of Jewish national life.
- Governments around the world are increasingly engaged in arguments about Jewish settlement, Jerusalem and the division of the land.

A sign of the times

This is why this week's headlines are worth watching.
On the surface it is a dispute over housing tenders and planning permission.
But viewed against the background of Bible prophecy, there is something much bigger taking place.

A British Foreign Secretary condemns Jewish construction east of Jerusalem. Israel responds angrily. France, Germany, Britain and Italy issue a joint condemnation. International attention once again turns to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem.

Jesus himself told his followers to observe the signs of the times. And what we see today is a world which increasingly resembles the world described by the prophets before the return of Jesus Christ.

The people of Israel are back in their ancient land. The mountains of Israel are inhabited. The land is the subject of international dispute. And Jerusalem has become exactly what Zechariah said it would become: “a burdensome stone”.

The final outcome of these prophecies is not the full destruction of Israel (although the nations will come close), nor do they describe endless war.

The Bible prophecies tell us that God ultimately intervenes.

The return of Jesus Christ will ultimately bring an end to man's warfare and establishes God's Kingdom upon the earth, centred upon Jerusalem.

So when we see headlines such as those appearing this week, Bible prophecy encourages us to look beyond the immediate political dispute.

The stage described by the prophets is being prepared.

And that makes these settlements on the mountains of Israel another remarkable sign of the times.

This has been Matt Davies joining you for another Bible in the News. Come back again next week as we continue to watch the news through the lens of Bible prophecy.