With the world's eyes on Gaza, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, announced on Thursday a major step in the direction of annexing the West Bank to Israel –and shutting down for good the possibility of creating a territorially contiguous Palestinian state.

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…

“This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize," Bezalel Smotrich said.