Israel approves major West Bank settlement project
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a map that shows the E1 settlement scheme that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank. File photo: Reuters
Israel approved a major settlement project on Wednesday in an area of the occupied West Bank that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.
Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12-square-kilometre parcel known as E1 just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition.
Critics say the settlement would effectively cut the West Bank in two, undermining hopes for a contiguous Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Last week, Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive tract of land, which lies between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
"I am pleased to announce that just a short while ago, the civil administration approved the planning for the construction of the E1 neighbourhood," the mayor of Maale Adumim, Guy Yifrach, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority swiftly slammed the move.
"This undermines the chances of implementing the two-state solution, establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, and fragments its geographic and demographic unity," the PA's foreign ministry said in a statement.
It added the move would entrench "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, where movement is only possible through Israeli checkpoints and under the terror of armed settler militias".
All of Israel's settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.
Israel heavily restricts the movement of West Bank Palestinians, who must obtain permits from authorities to travel through checkpoints to cross into east Jerusalem or Israel.
King Abdullah II of Jordan on Wednesday also affirmed his country's rejection of the E1 project, saying "the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace".
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned last week that constructing Israeli homes in the E1 area would "put an end to" hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Excluding east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers. (AFP)
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