Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Thursday that a contentious new settlement project in the Israeli-occupied West Bank will proceed by physically splitting the territory in two.
The E1 construction, located east of Jerusalem, is expected to receive final approval on 20 August after more than two decades of delays.
“This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich declared at a ceremony, framing the project as a direct answer to countries planning to recognise Palestinian statehood at next month’s UN General Assembly.
Development in E1 has long been frozen under US pressure, but Smotrich praised US President Donald Trump and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee as “true friends of Israel.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on Thursday, though he has previously endorsed the project.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the plan as “colonial, expansionist, and racist.”
Political adviser Ahmed Al-Deek accused Israel’s government of seeking to “fragment the West Bank” and “separate its southern part from the centre and the north.”
Rights groups, including Peace Now, warned the approval would be “deadly for the future of Israel” and for any chance of a peaceful two-state solution. The UN also urged Israel to halt settlement activity, calling the move a violation of international law that “erodes the viability of a Palestinian state.”
The E1 tract is one of the last remaining geographic corridors between the major West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem. Once built, it will block any direct Palestinian travel between the two, forcing lengthy detours through multiple checkpoints.