Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced plans to approve the building of more than 3,000 settlement homes, in a move that would effectively cut off the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem.
Smotrich praised the E1 settlement project, saying: “The plan will bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” Smotrich went on to say, “This is Zionism at its best — building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel.”
Palestinian officials condemned the plan as an “extension of the crimes of genocide, displacement, and annexation.”
This comes as several Arab countries have denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for saying he is very attached to the vision of a “Greater Israel” — a term used to express support for Israel seizing more land in the Occupied Territories, Syria’s Golan Heights, as well as parts of Jordan and Egypt.
