Smotrich: 3,400 settlements to detach East Jerusalem from the West Bank

Israeli Finance Minister, hawk of the ultra-right Bezalel Smotrich, announced that he had approved the new settlement plan in the E1 region of the West Bank, which consists of 3,401 housing units for settlers: a plan that, he said, will 'bury the idea of a Palestinian state'. Smotrich revealed that he will hold a press conference today, accompanied by Yesha Council Chairman Israel Ganz and Mayor Guy Yifrach of the municipality where the settlement will be built, Ma'aleh Adumim. This was reported by the Israeli media, including the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel and Ynet.

Gerusalemme Est

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's plan to build thousands of houses for Israeli settlers on a piece of land connecting East Jerusalem to the large settlement of Maale Adumim in the West Bank. Smotrich himself said this, reports the Times of Israel, at an event in Maale Adumim organised by the Yesha Council, the organisation representing local authorities in the settlements.

"He supports me in everything concerning Judea and Samaria and is allowing me to create the revolution," Smotrich emphasised.

Yesterday, Smotrich, a member of the extreme right, announced tenders for the construction of more than 3,400 housing units in the controversial E1 settlement project, stressing that the initiative 'buries the idea of a Palestinian state'.

The Peace now organisation - writes the Jerusalem Post - had previously called the plan announced by Smotrich a 'mortal blow to the two-state solution', because it envisages effectively dividing the West Bank into two parts. preventing the development of the metropolitan area between Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.