JERUSALEM, Sep 12: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that “there will never be a Palestinian state”, as he signed a plan giving Jerusalem full national authority to move ahead with the project, which calls for the annexation of the West Bank, reports Times of Israel.
Netanyahu was speaking out against the decision by several countries that have pledged to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state,
The IDF campaign in Gaza to completely capture the enclave has already become a highly controversial subject, along with the globally condemned attack in Qatar on Tuesday. It has also caused rifts between the Israel military, the political leadership, intelligence, and the public – which remains polarised over the tactical viability of the plans with Hamas still retaining hostages.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state; this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where thousands of new housing units would be added.
“We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security We are going to double the city’s population,” he added.
Netanyahu said that the project is about “realising a vision something very big is happening here.”
The controversial E1 project is a major construction venture planned and approved by the Israeli government.
The mega-project would see some 3,400 housing units built in the contentious E1 area in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumi.
Its ultimate aim is to sever the connection between Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, and to protect the Jewish state by establishing defensible borders.
The planned proposal was approved in August and has now been greenlit by the Civil Administration of the Defence Ministry.
A contentious issue for decades, advocates of a two-state solution argue that the project would divide the West Bank into two, separating the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian population.
It would also cut off Palestinian East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, making it impossible to establish a viable and contiguous Palestinian state. This outcome has been openly celebrated by some Israeli ministers.
Despite long-standing ambitions to build on the approximately 12 square km of land, the E1 project has been stalled for years due to widespread international opposition.
However, it was given the go-ahead by the government in direct response to the announcement by several countries, such as the UK, France, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada that they intend to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Far right official and the country’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel will soon celebrate the annexation of the West Bank.
“The prime minister told me, ‘I’m staying here to hear what you have to say, and I know what you intend to say,'” said Smotrich.
“Prime minister, all of us, soon, will thank you and congratulate and celebrate together the application of sovereignty throughout Judea and Samaria,” he added, using the biblical name for the West Bank. (UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
