With Reported Trump Backing, Israel to Approve Settlement Aimed at 'Burying' Potential for Palestinian State

One of Israel's biggest proponents of breaking international law by expanding settlements in the West Bank claimed Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Trump administration have both given their approval for an expansion scheme that has been blocked for decades and that threatens the possibility of ever establishing a Palestinian state.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich held up a map showing a corridor known as E1, which would link Jerusalem to the settlement of Maale Adumim, at a press conference in the illegal settlement where he proclaimed that the proposal "buries the idea of a Palestinian state."

"This is Zionism at its best—building, settling, and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel," said Smotrich. "This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize. Anyone in the world who tries today to recognize a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground."

The announcement followed recent statements from leaders in France, the United Kingdom, and Canada saying they were prepared to join the vast majority of United Nations member states in recognizing Palestinian statehood.

In a statement with the headline, "Burying the Idea of a Palestinian State," the finance minister said Israel plans to build 3,401 homes for Israeli settlers in the E1 corridor.

The plan still needs the approval of Israel's High Planning Council, which is expected next week. After the project is approved, settlers could begin housing construction in about a year.

The Israeli group Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog, said Thursday that "government is driving us forward at full speed" toward "an abyss."

"The Netanyahu government is exploiting every minute to deepen the annexation of the West Bank and prevent the possibility of a two-state solution," said Peace Now. "The government of Israel is condemning us to continued bloodshed, instead of working to end it."

Smotrich, whose popularity in Israel has plummeted in recent months, claimed U.S. President Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee, Trump's ambassador to Israel, reversed the United States' longstanding opposition to the E1 plan, which would cut off Palestinian communities between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, including an historic area called al-Bariyah.

The proposed settlement would also close to Palestinians the main highway going from Jerusalem to Maale Adumim.

"The Israeli government is openly announcing apartheid," Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israeli rights group Ir Amim, told Middle East Eye. "It explicitly states that the E1 plans were approved to 'bury' the two-state solution and to entrench de facto sovereignty. An immediate consequence could be the uprooting of more than a dozen Palestinian communities living in the E1 area."

Netanyahu and the Trump administration have not confirmed Smotrich's claim that they back the establishment of E1, but the White House has signaled a lack of support for the longstanding U.S. policy of working toward a two-state solution.

Huckabee said in a June interview with Bloomberg News that the U.S. is no longer seeking an independent Palestinian state.

"The Israeli government is openly announcing apartheid. It explicitly states that the E1 plans were approved to 'bury' the two-state solution and to entrench de facto sovereignty."

Smotrich said Thursday that Huckabee and Trump believe "a Palestinian state would endanger the existence of Israel" and that "God promised [the West Bank] to our father Abraham and gave [it] to us thousands of years ago."

He added, using the biblical term for the West Bank, that Netanyahu "backs me up in everything concerning Judea and Samaria, and is letting me create the revolution."

The U.S. State Department was vague in its response to questions from The Times of Israel about the E1 settlement on Thursday.

"A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with the Trump administration's goal to achieve peace in the region," said the agency. "We refer you to the government of Israel for more information."

Countries including the U.K., New Zealand, Canada, and Australia imposed sanctions on Smotrich in June for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, the rate of which has doubled over the last year.

In a statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry called the new settlement plan "an extension of crimes of genocide, displacement, and annexation."

Tatarsky said Smotrich's announcement on Thursday showed how international supporters of Palestinian statehood must "understand that Israel is undeterred by diplomatic gestures or condemnations" and take "concrete action" to stop the expansion of illegal settlements.

Speaking to The Guardian Wednesday, Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said countries that have recently signaled plans to recognize Palestinian statehood must also focus on ending Israel's assault and blockade in Gaza, which has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians so far—including at least 239 people who have starved to death.

“Of course it's important to recognize the state of Palestine," Albanese said. "It's incoherent that they've not done it already."

"Ending the question of Palestine in line with international law is possible and necessary," she added. "End the genocide today, end the permanent occupation this year, and end apartheid. This is what's going to guarantee freedom and equal rights for everyone."