On Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority criticized Israel’s approval of a significant settlement project in the West Bank, claiming it jeopardizes the possibility of a two-state solution.
The project approved in the E1 area “disrupts geographic and demographic unity, solidifying the division of the West Bank into isolated zones and enclaves, effectively turning them into virtual prisons,” the PA’s foreign ministry stated.
Israel sanctioned a major settlement project in the West Bank on Wednesday, an action the international community warns threatens a future Palestinian state’s viability.
For years, Israel has aimed to develop the approximately 12-square-kilometer plot known as E1, located just east of Jerusalem, though international resistance had delayed the initiative.
Opponents argue that the settlement would split the West Bank, hampering the formation of a cohesive Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Recently, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich endorsed plans to construct about 3,400 homes on this sensitive land connecting Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement.
