Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, said on Thursday that a plan to significantly expand a settlement near occupied East Jerusalem had won approval. But a procedural step remained.

The far-right minister said he will approve 3,000 new homes in the E1 area project, hailing it as ‘Zionism at its best’.

MAALE ADUMIM: Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut if off from East…