New construction project could spell death of two-state solution

On Wednesday, Israel formally approved the long-delayed and deeply controversial construction plan for the E1 area of the West Bank, a move that critics say will effectively sever the northern and southern parts of the territory and fatally undermine prospects for a two-state solution. The decision, celebrated by members of the country’s far-right coalition, provoked swift and widespread condemnation from the international community.

The approval of more than 3,000 housing units in the E1 zone follows decades of postponement under pressure from successive American and European governments. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hailed the decision as a historic victory for the settlement movement and the consolidation of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank. “The Palestinian state is being erased – not with slogans, but with actions,” he declared.

Smotrich insisted the project represents a decisive step in what he has called the government’s “de facto sovereignty plan,” aimed at permanently integrating the West Bank into Israel’s jurisdiction. “This buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are taking on the ground,” he said. Smotrich, who also serves as a minister within the broader Defence Ministry, added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “backs me up in everything concerning Judea and Samaria [the biblical term for the West Bank]. He is letting me create the revolution.”

The E1 area, roughly 12 square kilometres of mostly undeveloped land, is located between the settlement city of Ma’ale Adumim, home to some 40,000 residents, and the Palestinian neighbourhood of Shuafat in East Jerusalem. While officially part of Ma’ale Adumim municipality, the land has remained open desert for decades.