Plans to develop the illegal E1 settlement, which would jeopardise a future Palestinian state, have been widely condemned.
Israel’s announcement that it will illegally build thousands of homes in a highly controversial development in the occupied West Bank – in a move Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich boasted “buries the idea of a Palestinian state” – has drawn widespread international condemnation.
Smotrich announced Thursday that he was pushing ahead with long-frozen plans for the E1 area settlement project that would connect occupied East Jerusalem with the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometres to the east.
The planned settlement, which was shelved for years amid opposition from the United States and European allies, would comprise more than 3,400 homes for Israeli settlers on Palestinian-owned land that experts say is vital for any future territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Smotrich said the development was being revived as a response to plans by other countries to recognise a Palestinian state.
