With US backing, Israel moves to divide West Bank and expand settlements

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

With full U.S. support, the Israeli government is moving forward with a plan considered the most dangerous yet for derailing the Palestinian state project. The government is expected to give final approval next week for construction plans in the E1 area.

The plan would divide the West Bank into two sections, separating the north from the south, forming the backbone of efforts to eliminate the idea of a Palestinian state.

The government’s approval comes after years of delays due to international pressure and the dramatic, irreversible implications for the future of the territories under Israeli occupation.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich promoted his settlement plan, stating that a key condition of his coalition is to impose full Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and link settlement activity there with Gaza.

He argued that one of the objectives of the Gaza war is to re-establish settlements in the Strip as a condition for victory, asserting that such a plan would permanently end the idea of a Palestinian state.

Smotrich, who described any support for a Palestinian state as ‘suicidal’ for Israel, revealed the start of a plan to expand the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and link it with Jerusalem, as a strategic step to consolidate Israeli control over the West Bank.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government, through its relevant institutions, has issued orders to seize thousands of dunams of Palestinian land and allocated billions of shekels for investment in these territories.

The plan aims to settle one million new Israeli settlers in the West Bank as part of what has been described as continuous Jewish construction to eliminate the Palestinian state project.