Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has mapped out plans for the West Bank which his office has described as “burying the idea of a Palestinian state”
Mr Smotrich on Thursday (local time) announced a scheme for a planned Israeli settlement which has previously been delayed, lashing out at countries over their Palestinian statehood stances as stood at the development site.
The Israeli minister claimed both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had agreed the revived E1 settlement plans.
“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,” Mr Smotrich said at the site of the proposal in Maale Adumim.
It comes after Australia became the latest country in a handful of Western nations including France, the United Kingdom and Canada in signalling their intentions to recognise a Palestinian state.
A US State Department spokesperson said in response to his comments that Washington’s primary focus continued to be ending the war in Gaza.
“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, referring reporters to the Israeli government for further information.
Mr Smotrich’s spokesperson said in a statement headlined “Burying the idea of a Palestinian state,” that the minister had approved the settlement scheme.
The plan would see 3,401 houses constructed for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The idea for settlement at Maale Adumim was stalled by Israel in 2012 and again revived plans in 2020, with the US and European allies having considered the proposal a threat to any future peace deal with Palestinians.
Palestinian authorities allies and campaign groups condemned the plans, calling it illegal.
The United Nations has urged Israel to reverse its decision to start work on the settlement.
“It would put an end to prospects of a two-state solution,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
“Settlements go against international law … (and) further entrench the occupation.”
Australia, as well New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom and Norway imposed sanctions on Mr Smotrich fellow Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir for “for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank” a joint statement in June said.
With Reuters
