An Israeli committee on Wednesday gave final approval for the construction of about 3,400 housing units for the expansion of an illegal settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a step that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “erases” a Palestinian state.
The housing units will be constructed as part of the controversial E1 settlement project, which has been frozen for decades due to international opposition, since it will essentially split the West Bank in two. Smotrich, who also holds a position in the Defense Ministry that gives authority to expand settlements, first announced the plan last week.
The Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now said that the vote by the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, a Defense Ministry department, for final approval of the construction came at “record speed” as scheduling usually takes much longer. The settlement expansion is seen as the Israeli government’s response to several Western countries, including the UK, France, Canada, and Australia, announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state.
“This is a significant step that practically erases the two-state delusion and consolidates the Jewish people’s hold on the heart of the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said after the settlements were approved.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not by slogans but by deeds. Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea,” he added.
Peace Now slammed the approval, saying that Smotrich and “his minority of messianic friends are establishing a delusional settlement that we will have to evacuate in any agreement.” The group added that the “entire purpose of the settlement in E1 is to sabotage a political solution and rush towards a binational apartheid state.”
The Palestinian Authority said that the plan “fragments… geographic and demographic unity, entrenching the division of the occupied West Bank into isolated areas and cantons that are disconnected from one another, turning them into something akin to real prisons.”
While historically, the US has tried to distance itself from Israeli settlement expansion since it is illegal under international law, both Trump administrations have been openly supportive of the land grabs. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee claimed that the E1 expansion was not a violation of international law and said that the US wouldn’t oppose it.
Huckabee also claimed that the Palestinian territory was part of Israel. “It’s also, I think, incumbent on all of us to recognise that Israelis have a right to live in Israel,” he said.
