Netanyahu decided to continue the major colonization plan, which sections the Westordan. “There will never be a Palestinian state”
Israeli forces hold Palestinians following an explosion in Tulkarm, Westordania, on September 11, 2025. Photo: Nedal Eshtayah / AFP / Profimedia
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to continue the controversial colonization extension plan, which would section the territories that the Palestinians claim to create a state, reports Reuters.
“There will never be a Palestinian state. This place is ours,” said Netanyahu during a visit to the Maale Colonia Adumim from the Cisiordania, where thousands of new living units will be built.
“We will protect our legacy, our territory and our security,” he gave assurances.
Last month, the E1 project, which would divide the occupied Bank and isolate it from East Jerusalem, received the final approval from the Planning Commission within the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Netanyahu was accompanied by nationalist members of his ruling coalition, including the Minister of Extreme-Great Finance Bezalel Smotrich, who in August said that the Palestinian state “is deleted from the map, not with slogans, but with actions”.
The measure, taken two days after Israel tried to kill Hamas leaders in Qatar and who was vehemently condemned, could aggravate the relationships already tense with many of the allies of the Jewish state.
The resumption of the project risks more isolating Israel, who saw how some Western allies, frustrated by the planned continuation and climbing of the War in the Gaza strip, announced to recognize the Palestinian state at the General Assembly of the United Nations at the end of this month.
Zone E1 is located in the vicinity of the Maale Colony and the plan was frozen in 2012 and 2020, following the objections of governments in the US and Europe.
The total investment in the project, which will include the construction of roads and the modernization of the major infrastructure, is estimated at almost $ 1 billion.
The Western capitals and the campaign groups opposed the colonization project due to the concern that it could undermine a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.
The solution with two states for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which lasts for decades, provides for a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, Westordan and the Gaza strip, to coexist with Israel.
Most of the international community believes that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal in accordance with international law.
