Advocacy Groups Condemn Israel's West Bank Settlement Plans
'They will talk about a Palestinian dream, and we will continue to build a Jewish reality,' said Smotrich during a press conference on Thursday. 'This reality is what will permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to make a statement regarding the settlement plan. TIME has reached out to his office for comment.
Smotrich's construction goal—which is set to face a final approval hearing by the Higher Planning Council next week—sees the revival of the widely-critiqued E1 project worked on by Jerusalem officials and the Maale Adumim settlement. The project, which has been on ice for decades due to international concerns, effectively isolates the territory by cutting off the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
Critics have condemned the advancement of the plan, citing fears that this split would prove detrimental to any possibility of a Palestinian state in the future.
Israeli advocacy group Peace Now warned that the 'government's annexation moves' are 'guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed.'
'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,' the group said in an online statement. 'There is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the terrible war in Gaza—the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel—and it will ultimately come.'
Read More: The Violent Gaza-ification of the West Bank
The West Bank is defined by the United Nations as under Israeli military occupation. Smotrich is a long-time proponent of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are widely considered to be in violation of international law. Smotrich has been administered with sanctions by the U.K. and others after being accused of inciting violence against Palestinians in the territory.
Smotrich's settlement plans come as the international spotlight on Israel intensifies, with growing calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war amid mass concerns over the ongoing malnutrition crisis in Gaza and backlash over Netanyahu's plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.
A number of countries have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state, should Israel not meet certain conditions. In July, U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the U.K. would formally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September, unless Israel implements a cease-fire and commits to a two-state solution. France, Australia, and Canada are among the countries that have made similar statements.
Read More: Israeli Settler Violence Escalates in the West Bank After Death of Palestinian-American
Reports of escalating violence in the West Bank, specifically Israeli settler attacks, are also causing global concern.
According to an Aug. 7 report by the United Nations, between July 29 and Aug. 4, two Palestinian adults were killed in the West Bank, one by Israeli forces and the other by an armed settler. Within that same timeframe, 'at least 57 Palestinians, including 11 children, were injured, the majority by Israeli forces and 14 by Israeli settlers.'
There have been heightened tensions in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which was triggered after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. Over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, the ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified by TIME.
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With the U.S. easing off, the issue ahead of the U.N. vote expected at the end of August now appears to be resistance by France and others to setting a firm deadline for the operation to end after the one-year extension, according to the officials and congressional aides. French officials did not respond to requests for comment. The final French draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, does not include a date for UNIFIL's withdrawal, which U.S. officials say is required for their support. Instead, it would extend the peacekeeping mission for one year and indicates the U.N. Security Council's 'intention to work on a withdrawal.' But even if the mandate is renewed, the peacekeeping mission might be scaled down for financial reasons, with the U.N. system likely facing drastic budget cuts, said a U.N. official, who was not authorized to comment to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. 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She pointed to the discovery of Hezbollah tunnels and weapons caches close to UNIFIL facilities during and after last year's Israel-Hezbollah war, when much of the militant group's senior leadership was killed and much of its arsenal destroyed. Hezbollah is now under increasing pressure to give up the rest of its weapons. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UNIFIL continues to discover unauthorized weapons, including rocket launchers, mortar rounds and bomb fuses, this week, which it reported to the Lebanese army. Under the U.S.- and France-brokered ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army taking control in conjunction with UNIFIL. Israel has continued to occupy five strategic points on the Lebanese side and carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. 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