Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a controversial settlement expansion plan that would cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state.
"There will not be a Palestinian state," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, where thousands of new housing units would be added.
Last month, the unlawful E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval.
"We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security... We are going to double the city's population." The event was streamed live by his office.
Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometre (five square mile) tract of land known as E1, but the plan had been stalled for years in the face of international opposition.
