JERUSALEM: A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state received final approval on Wednesday, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The approval of the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week by Smotrich and received final go-ahead from a defence ministry planning commission on Wednesday, he said.
Restarting the project could further isolate Israel, which has watched some Western allies frustrated by its continuation and planned escalation of the Gaza war announce they may recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“With E1 we are delivering finally on what has been promised for years,” Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition, said in a statement. “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.”
Approves strategy to conquer Gaza City,
calls up reservists
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the E1 settlement would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermines the possibility of a two-state solution.
British foreign minister David Lammy said on Wednesday that the widely condemned Israeli settlement plan would, if implemented, constitute a breach of international law and risk dividing a future Palestinian state.
“If implemented, it would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution,” Lammy said in a post on X, calling on the Israeli government to reverse the decision.
A German government spokesperson commenting on the announcement told reporters on Wednesday that settlement construction violates international law and “hinders a negotiated two-state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank”.
The two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel.
Western capitals and campaign groups have opposed the settlement project due to concerns that it could undermine a future peace deal with the Palestinians.
The plan for E1, located adjacent to Maale Adumim and frozen in 2012 and 2020 amid objections from the US and European governments, involves construction of about 3,400 new housing units.
Infrastructure work could begin within a few months, and house building in about a year, according to Israeli advocacy group Peace Now, which tracks settlement activity in the West Bank.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.
Plan to ‘conquer’ Gaza City
Meanwhile, Israel’s defence minister approved a plan on Wednesday for the conquest of Gaza City and authorised the call-up of around 60,000 reservists, piling pressure on Hamas as mediators push for a ceasefire.
Defence Minister Israel Katz’s move, confirmed to AFP by a spokesperson, came as mediators awaited an official Israeli response on their latest proposal.
While mediator Qatar had expressed guarded optimism over the latest proposal, a senior Israeli official said the government stood firm on its call for the release of all prisoners in any agreement.
The framework that Hamas had approved proposes an initial 60-day truce, a staggered prisoner release, the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners and provisions allowing for the entry of aid into Gaza.
On the ground in Gaza City on Wednesday, Mustafa Qazzaat, head of the emergency committee in the Gaza municipality, described the situation as “catastrophic”.
He told AFP that “large numbers” of people were fleeing their neighbourhoods, with the majority of those displaced “on the roads and streets without shelter”.
