Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday delivered a defiant declaration against Palestinian statehood, stating unequivocally that “there will be no Palestinian state,” during a high-profile signing ceremony for a controversial settlement expansion project in the occupied West Bank.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state — this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu proclaimed at the event in Maale Adumim, a major Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem. “We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security… We are going to double the city’s population.”
The event, broadcast live by Netanyahu’s office, marked the formal advancement of a long-stalled development plan on the highly sensitive E1 corridor — a roughly 12-square-kilometre area that lies between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. The project envisions thousands of new housing units and infrastructure that critics say would split the West Bank and make a viable Palestinian state nearly impossible.
International Outcry
The expansion plan has sparked widespread condemnation from the international community. UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned that the E1 settlement would “effectively cleave the West Bank in two” and pose an “existential threat” to any future two-state solution.
In July, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threw his full support behind the project, backing construction of approximately 3,400 housing units in E1. Smotrich and other nationalist members of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition have increasingly called for the formal annexation of large parts of the West Bank — a position that places Israel at odds with most of the international community.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank — regardless of Israeli government authorization — are considered illegal.
Mounting Diplomatic Pressure
In response to Israel’s continued settlement expansion and refusal to consider a political path toward Palestinian statehood, several Western governments, including the United Kingdom and France, are expected to formally recognize the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.
British officials have stated that recognition will come unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, where conflict has raged since Hamas’s October 2023 attack. The war has led to catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the besieged territory and intensified global scrutiny of Israel’s broader policies toward Palestinians.
Critics Warn of “Irreversible” Damage
Israeli rights group Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, warned last week that groundwork for construction in E1 could begin within months, with housing projects potentially underway by next year.
“The E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution,” the organization said in a statement.
The West Bank, which has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, is home to about 3 million Palestinians and approximately 500,000 Israeli settlers. The expansion of settlements like Maale Adumim continues to deepen tensions in a region already on edge.
As Israel doubles down on its settlement ambitions and distances itself from a negotiated solution, the prospect of a two-state outcome — long championed by the international community — appears increasingly remote.
