“Bury Palestine”: Smotrich says will approve massive settlement tender in West Bank

‘Israeli’ Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced he plans to approve tenders for 3,401 new housing units in the E1 settlement area of the occupied West Bank, declaring the move is intended to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state".

The announcement marks a significant and long-sought advance for a project that has been frozen for decades due to intense international opposition.

Many long viewed the E1 plan as a "doomsday" scenario for the two-state solution, as its implementation would geographically bisect the West Bank and isolate East Jerusalem, making a contiguous Palestinian state unviable.

Smotrich also holds a ministerial role in the Defense Ministry with responsibility over West Bank civilian affairs.

In a public statement, he described the approval of construction plans as a continuation of the government's "de facto sovereignty plan" and a definitive step to establish facts on the ground.

“This is Zionism at its best – building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel,” Smotrich adds.

He has previously stated that his "life's mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state".

The E1 area is a strategic, 12-square-kilometer strip of land situated between East Jerusalem and the large “Israeli” settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

The development of this corridor would effectively cut the West Bank in two, preventing a cohesive link between its northern and southern regions, such as Ramallah and Bethlehem.

The plan would also complete a ring of settlements around East Jerusalem, further isolating it from the rest of the West Bank and crippling the Palestinian economy, which is heavily reliant on the city.

According to the ‘Israeli’ settlement watchdog Peace Now, the approved tenders would constitute an enormous 33% increase in Ma'ale Adumim's housing stock, a settlement whose population has been stagnant for a decade.

The E1 project has a long history of being advanced and then stalled, primarily under pressure from the United States and other international actors.

Recent attempts to move forward with the plan in 2022 and 2023 were postponed due to American pressure.

This latest move comes amidst a broader and accelerating policy of settlement expansion and administrative changes in the West Bank.

In 2023, the number of housing units advanced in the West Bank was the highest since the signing of the Oslo Accords. This trend continued in 2024 with a record number of new outposts being established.