Israel’s Smotrich approves settlement in bid to ‘bury’ idea of Palestinian state

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has approved plans for a settlement that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, a move his office said would bury the idea of a Palestinian state.

It was not immediately clear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the plan to revive the long-frozen E1 scheme, which Palestinians and world powers have said would effectively lop the West Bank in two and will likely draw international ire.

In a statement headlined “Burying the idea of a Palestinian state”, Mr. Smotrich’s spokesperson announced the decision and said the development would build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Israel had frozen construction plans there since 2012 because of objections from the U.S., European allies and other world powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

Palestinians fear the settlement building in the West Bank — which has sharply intensified since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war — will rob them of any chance to build a state of their own in the area.

Settler violence has rocketed, from destruction of olive groves and cutting water and electricity in communities like Susiya, to incendiary attacks on Christian holy sites.

There was no immediate statement from Mr. Netanyahu or the broader government. Mr. Smotrich’s popularity has fallen in recent months with polls showing his party would not win a single seat if parliamentary elections were held today.

‘Crimes of genocide’

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the new settlement plan an extension of crimes of genocide, displacement and annexation, and an echo of Mr. Netanyahu’s statements regarding what he called ‘Greater Israel’.

The E1 project would connect the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank with Jerusalem. Most of the international community views Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and its military occupation over the region since 1967, as illegal.

Peace Now, which tracks settlement activity in the West Bank, said the Housing Ministry had approved the construction of 3,300 homes in Maale Adumim.

“The E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution. We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed,” Peace Now said in a statement.

Palestinians were already demoralised by the Israeli military campaign which has killed more than 61,000 people in Gaza, according to local health authorities, and fear Mr. Netanyahu will ultimately push them out of that territory.