Deblet is just the Debian libraries, I'm sure you could compile E17 for Maemo, it just might mean some more tinkering to get all the libraries in place. The beauty of compiling stuff for deblet is that you can use all the same libraries in your tablet that the app expects in the desktop environment. So often, when compiling stuff for Maemo, I hear developers complain about having to compile a dozen libraries or mess with the app because it won't work with the (old) Maemo versions of the libraries...

EDIT: I started typing my post, got distracted, and when I finally posted it, fatalsaint had beat me to it