Israel has given final approval for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank that experts say would damage plans for any future territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced the plan on August 14, hailed the decision as “historic” and framed the approval as a rebuke to Western countries that announced their plans to recognise a Palestinian state in recent weeks.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” Smotrich, a settler himself, said on Wednesday.
“Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
Settlement development in E1, an open tract of Palestinian land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to United States pressure during previous administrations. Israel’s settlement-building in occupied territory is considered illegal under international law.
Infrastructure work in E1 could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in about a year. The plan includes about 3,500 apartments that would be situated next to the existing settlement of Maale Adumim.
“I am pleased to announce that just a short while ago, the civil administration approved the planning for the construction of the E1 neighbourhood,” the mayor of Maale Adumim, Guy Yifrach, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The location of E1 is significant because it is one of the last geographical links between the major West Bank cities of Ramallah, in the north, and Bethlehem, in the south.
The two cities are 22 kilometres (14 miles) apart, but Palestinians travelling between them must take a wide detour and pass through multiple Israeli checkpoints. The hope among advocates for a Palestinian state was that the region would serve as a direct link between the cities.
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