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Rabat – Israel has approved a controversial illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank, a move critics say could destroy the possibility of creating a future Palestinian state.
The project focuses on the E1 area, an open stretch of land just east of Jerusalem. Plans for building there have existed for more than 20 years but were repeatedly frozen due to international pressure.
Israel’s government gave the project final approval on Wednesday. The plan includes 3,500 new homes connected to the existing Maale Adumim settlement. If construction begins soon, infrastructure work could start within months, and homes may be built within a year.
Palestinians and rights groups warn that the project would effectively cut the West Bank in two, blocking any direct link between its northern and southern cities, such as Ramallah and Bethlehem. This would make it nearly impossible to form a continuous Palestinian state.
Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors settlements in the West Bank, said the project’s only goal is “to sabotage a political solution.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, celebrated the approval. He said it was a response to Western countries that recently announced they will recognize Palestine as a state.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” Smotrich said. “Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected the idea of a Palestinian state. He insists Israel must maintain full control over the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Over 700,000 Israeli settlers already live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In recent months, Palestinians have faced more settler attacks, home demolitions, military raids, and restrictions on movement.
Smotrich also celebrated approval for another 350 homes in the settlement of Ashael, near Hebron. He has vowed to double the settler population in the West Bank.
For Palestinians, the E1 project represents one of the most serious threats yet to their hopes of statehood.
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