Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to restart construction on the long-delayed E1 settlement in the West Bank, a move his office said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state. The plan involves building 3,401 housing units linking an existing settlement to Jerusalem, a step critics warn would fragment Palestinian territory and undermine peace prospects.
Speaking at the Maale Adumim site on Thursday, Smotrich, a settler himself, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to revive the project, though no confirmation came from either leader.
“Whoever in the world is trying to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground… with facts of houses, facts of neighbourhoods,” he said.
The plan drew swift condemnation from Palestinians, international allies, and human rights groups. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for the Palestinian president, urged the U.S. to pressure Israel to halt construction.
European Union and British officials denounced the move as illegal under international law. “The E1 settlement would divide a future Palestinian state in two and breach international law,” British Foreign Minister David Lammy said.
The United Nations warned that the project could end prospects for a two-state solution. Peace Now, an Israeli settlement-monitoring group, estimated infrastructure work could begin in months, with housing construction in about a year, calling the plan “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving peace.”
Israel, which controls the West Bank but has not formally annexed it, argues settlements are justified by historical, religious, and security considerations.
Palestinians fear that accelerated settlement expansion following the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict, which killed over 61,000 in Gaza, will destroy their hopes of establishing an independent state.
About 700,000 Israeli settlers currently live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1980, a move largely unrecognized internationally.
Global powers maintain that settlement expansion violates international law and undermines the viability of a two-state solution.
Written By Rodney Mbua
