Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the latest plans for Jewish settlement expansion between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim mark the “final nail in the coffin of a Palestinian state”.
Under the plan, which was announced on Thursday by Mr Smotrich, who holds ministerial responsibility for civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank, more than 3,000 new homes will be built near Ma’ale Adumim. This will revive the long-stalled E1 project that essentially divides the West Bank in two and is seen by critics as a strategic barrier to a future Palestinian state.
“Those around the world trying to recognise a Palestinian state will get our answer on the ground,” Mr Smotrich said.
He said the plan has the full support of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and would be formally approved by the government next week. “Not in any documents, not in decisions or declarations, but in facts. Facts of homes, neighbourhoods, roads and Jewish families building their lives.
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“They’ll keep talking about a Palestinian dream, and we’ll keep on building a Jewish reality,” he added. “A reality that buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there’s nothing to recognise and no one to recognise it.”
Settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. About 700,000 settlers live in approximately 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the move will lead to escalation, tension and instability. He stressed that settlement in all its forms is unacceptable, and blamed both Israel and the US for enabling a situation that contradicts legitimacy and international law.
The Palestinian foreign affairs ministry said the new tenders were linked to “the notion of ‘Greater Israel’” and part of a wider plan to “undermine the opportunity to establish the Palestinian state”.
“The colonial construction in the E1 area is a continuation of the occupation’s plans to undermine the opportunity to establish the Palestinian state on its homeland, weaken its geographical and demographic unity, entrench the division of the West Bank into isolated areas surrounded by a sea of settlements, and facilitate the completion of their annexation,” the ministry said in a statement, calling for international intervention and sanctions to thwart the move.
There was also widespread condemnation from across the Arab world, led by Jordan and Egypt.
Israel had frozen E1 construction plans since 2012 because of objections from the US, European allies and other world powers who considered the project a threat to peace prospects.
The construction divides the West Bank into northern and southern areas and blocks the possibility of territorial contiguity for Palestinians between East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah, which the Palestinians wanted to serve as the foundation of a future independent state.
Ma’ale Adumim is one of the largest settlements in the West Bank. Residents claim the construction is needed to absorb the natural growth of the community. Ma’ale Adumim mayor Guy Yifrach expressed his strong support for the plans.
“Palestinians have tried to undermine this area through illegal construction, but the creation of this new neighbourhood will thwart their efforts,” he said.
Anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now criticised the move.
“The Netanyahu government is exploiting every minute to deepen the annexation of the West Bank and prevent the possibility of a two-state solution,” the group said in a statement.
“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.”
