Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, has stated that plans to construct over 3,000 homes in a contentious settlement project within the occupied West Bank would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The E1 project, situated between Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement, has been stalled for decades due to significant international opposition. Construction in this area would effectively sever the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem.
Smotrich asserted that the project would thwart the concept of a Palestinian state, “because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise.”
Settlements are widely regarded as illegal under international law and remain a central point of contention between Israel and the Palestinians.
According to the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, approximately 700,000 settlers reside in around 160 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land that Palestinians seek for a future independent state.
“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem,” Smotrich stated.
“This is Zionism at its best – building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel.”
This announcement follows recent declarations from a growing number of countries expressing their intention to recognise a Palestinian state in the coming months, a move that Israel has denounced.
During a press conference with Yesha Council Chairman Israel Ganz and Maale Adumim Mayor Guy Yifrach, Smotrich, in announcing the plan, stated that the land had been given to the Jews by God.
When questioned by the BBC about the message these plans send to countries like the UK and France, which are planning to recognise a State of Palestine later this year, he responded: “It’s not going to happen. There will be no state to recognise.”
In response to the move, the US State Department stated that “a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.”
However, the UN and the EU have urged Israel not to proceed with the plan.
An EU spokesman stated that the “EU rejects any territorial change that is not part of a political agreement between involved parties.”
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy said the proposal must be stopped.
“The UK strongly opposes the Israeli government’s E1 settlement plans, which would divide a future Palestinian state in two and mark a flagrant breach of international law,” he said.
Israeli NGO Peace Now said: “The Netanyahu government is exploiting every minute to deepen the annexation of the West Bank and prevent the possibility of a two-state solution.”
“It is clear to everyone today that the only solution to the conflict, and the only way to defeat Hamas, is through the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”
“The Government of Israel is condemning us to continued bloodshed, instead of working to end it.”
The Palestinian foreign ministry called the new settlement plan “an extension of crimes of genocide, displacement and annexation”.
Israel has long rejected such accusations, but leading Israeli human rights organisations have argued that the country’s conduct in the war in Gaza constitutes genocide against the Palestinian population.
Smotrich, along with national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was sanctioned by the UK in June over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank.
The construction of 3,401 housing units in the E1 area has been frozen for 20 years. Developing the area has long been seen as effectively blocking the establishment of a Palestinian state, because of its strategic position separating areas south of Jerusalem from those to its north, preventing a contiguous Palestinian urban area connecting Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel’s pressure on West Bank Palestinians has increased sharply, justified as legitimate security measures.
The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law – a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year.
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