The United Nations calls on Israel to reverse its decision to start work on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said yesterday.
“It would put an end to prospects of a two-state solution,” Dujarric told reporters.
“Settlements go against international law... further entrench the occupation.”
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, a move his office said would ‘bury’ the idea of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian government, allies and campaign groups condemned the scheme, calling it illegal and saying the fragmentation of territory would rip up peace plans for the region.
Standing at the site of the planned settlement in Maale Adumim yesterday, Smotrich, a settler himself, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said the US remained focused on ending the war in Gaza and ensuring Hamas will never govern that territory again.
“A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region,” the spokesperson said, while referring to the Israeli government for further information.
“Whoever in the world is trying to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground. Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses, facts of neighbourhoods,” Smotrich said.
Israel froze construction plans at Maale Adumim in 2012, and again after they were revived in 2020, amid objections from the US, European allies and other powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Restarting the project could further isolate Israel, which has watched some of its Western allies condemn its military offensive in Gaza and announce they may recognise a Palestinian state.
Palestinians fear the settlement building in the West Bank – which has sharply intensified since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war – will rob them of any chance to build a state of their own in the area.
In a statement headlined “Burying the idea of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich’s spokesperson said the minister had approved the plan to build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
In Maale Adumim, Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition who has long advocated for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, told Reuters the plan would go into effect on Wednesday.
Breaking the silence, an Israeli rights group established by former Israeli soldiers, said what it called a land grab “will not only further fragment the Palestinian territory, but will further entrench apartheid”.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Palestinian president’s spokesperson, called on the US to pressure Israel to stop settlement building.
“The EU rejects any territorial change that is not part of a political agreement between involved parties. So annexation of territory is illegal under international law,” European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper said.
Peace Now, which tracks settlement activity in the West Bank, said there were still steps needed before construction. But if all went through, infrastructure work could begin within a few months, and house building in about a year.
“The E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution. We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed,” Peace Now said in a statement.
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