Smotrich says illegal West Bank settlement ‘buries’ Palestinian state
A picture taken from the E1 corridor area of the occupied West Bank shows the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, on 16 June 2020
Alastair McCready reports in Al Jazeera on 14 August 2025:
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he will approve thousands of housing units in a highly controversial and long-delayed illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank, saying the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.
Smotrich on Thursday said he would approve tenders to build more than 3,000 homes in the E1 area settlement project that would connect Jerusalem and the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometres to the east.
“This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,” he said. “Anyone in the world who tries today to recognise a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground,” he said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the new settlement plan an extension of crimes of genocide, displacement and annexation, and an echo of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements regarding what he called “Greater Israel”.
In a statement before the announcement, Smotrich, who is also a minister in Israel’s Ministry of Defence with broad responsibility for approving settlements in the occupied West Bank, hailed the project as “Zionism at its best”.
“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem,” Smotrich added.
The E1 plan has not yet received final approval, which is expected next week.