Netanyahu signs West Bank settlement expansion plan, rules out Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a controversial settlement expansion plan that would cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last month, the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval from a Defence Ministry planning commission. Netanyahu was joined by nationalist members of his coalition, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who in August said a Palestinian state “is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.”

Source: Netanyahu signs West Bank settlement expansion plan, rules out Palestinian state