Israel Set to Expand in West Bank to 'Bury' Palestinian State [View all]

Source: Bloomberg News

"Israel plans to expand settlements into an area of the West Bank that would effectively bisect the enclave — a move its finance minister said “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”

The expansion into the 3,000 acres known as E1 that run between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim — long excluded from settlement plans — would amount to a major rebuke of growing Western calls to recognize Palestinian statehood. It comes as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized a large-scale increase in settlement building in the West Bank — widely considered a violation of international law — over the past year and plans to take over the Gaza Strip.

“Anyone in the world who tries to recognize a Palestinian state will get our answer on the ground,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also oversees settlements within Israel’s Defense Ministry, according to a transcript of a speech he gave at E1. “They’ll talk about a Palestinian dream, and we’ll keep building a Jewish reality.”

“After 20 years of hold-ups, pressure, election-eve promises and broken dreams — we stand here in Ma’ale Adumin and proclaim in a clear voice: the cork as been broken, the E1 project is under way,” said Smotrich, an ultranationalist settler who in June was sanctioned by the UK for inciting violence against Palestinian communities. He said 3,401 homes would be built there.

The West Bank-based administration of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the announcement. Along with the devastation in Gaza and recurrent violence by some settlers against Palestinians, it “will only lead to further escalation, tension and instability,” said Abbas spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh."






Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-14/israel-set-to-expand-in-west-bank-to-bury-palestinian-state