Israel has decided to suspend its controversial plan to build a large settlement in the E1 area of the West Bank, which critics say would effectively cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

The decision was announced by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office on Sunday, following a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington. According to a statement from Bennett’s office, the Israeli leader told Blinken that “Israel will not advance construction plans in E1 at this time”.

The statement added that Bennett and Blinken agreed to “continue their dialogue on this issue and others”. The E1 project, which was first proposed in 1994, envisages building some 3,000 housing units for Jewish settlers on a 12-square-kilometer (4.6-square-mile) area east of Jerusalem.

The project has faced strong opposition from the Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and from the international community, which considers all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal under international law.

The E1 project would also create a wedge between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, making it harder for Palestinians to travel between them and jeopardizing the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state.