Israel’s Smotrich says actions, not words, are erasing Palestinian Statehood plans

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has praised the Israeli government’s recent approval of a significant settlement plan located east of Jerusalem, which is set to create a division between the northern and southern regions of the occupied West Bank. 

This approval comes despite widespread international concerns about the potential dangers of the project to the two-state solution and the future Palestinian state. 

On Wednesday, Smotrich remarked, “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” asserting that each new settlement represents “another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.” 

Israeli activists have described this settlement initiative as a “fatal blow” to the prospect of a two-state solution. 

In its initial response, the Palestinian Authority condemned the decision, warning that it would lead to the fragmentation of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, effectively turning these areas into isolated enclaves. They underscored the urgent need for the international community to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. 

In a statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry stressed that the settlement plan “consolidates the division of the occupied West Bank into isolated, geographically disconnected areas and cantons, resembling veritable prisons”. 

They highlighted the difficulties of movement between these areas, which would become reliant on Israeli occupation checkpoints and the terror posed by armed settler militias present throughout the West Bank.

READ: Israel approves major settlement project dividing occupied West Bank, isolating East Jerusalem