Israel Approves New Settlement Construction In West Bank, Smotrich: Palestinian Country Is Being Removed

Illustration of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. (Wikimedia Commons/Troclaire)

JAKARTA - A large construction project that will build about 3,400 housing units in the controversial E1 area of the West Bank, between Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, has received final approval on Wednesday.

Announced last week by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the controversial plan was officially approved by the Civil Administration High Planning Committee, a department at the Ministry of Defense.

Smotrich, who also holds the position of junior minister at the Ministry of Defense who gave him broad authority in settlement development, called the decision "historic."

He described the construction plan as a "significant measure that practically eliminates two countries' woes and strengthens the grip of Jews at the heart of the Land of Israel."

"The Palestinian state is being removed from the table not by slogans, but by action. Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea," the right-wing minister said. August 21.

He described the dramatic move, which would effectively divide the West Bank into two, in retaliation for Western countries announcing plans to recognize the Palestinian state in recent weeks.

The plan received praise from Mayor Ma'ale Adumim, Guy Yifrach, who said in a statement he "livened to announce that some time ago, Civil Administration approved plans for the construction of the E1 settlement."

The E1 settlement project has been frozen for decades amid fierce opposition from the international community, including the previous United States Administration, which fears the construction of new settlements on largely vacant land will preclude the formation of a side by side and viable Palestinian state.

The plan, which has now been approved, will link the metropolitan areas of Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, while it appears to thwart the prospect of coexisting Palestinian existence among the centers of the population of Bethlehem, East Jerusalem, and Ramallah which has long been considered the basis for the Palestinian state.