Controversial project that would split West Bank into north and south has been on hold for decades due to international pressure; settler leader hails 'historical achievement' The post Smotrich to okay 3,

"The plan is the 'final nail in the coffin' for the concept of a Palestinian state," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich remarked. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the new E1 settlement plan near Ma’aleh Adumim,

Israel’s far-right finance minister said Thursday that a contentious new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is going ahead — a project that Palestinians and rights groups worry will scuttle plans for a Palestinian state by effectively cutting the territory into two parts.