Netanyahu signs plan to expand E1 settlement east of Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday signed an agreement to advance a long-stalled settlement expansion in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, declaring at a ceremony in the Maale Adumim settlement that "there will be no Palestinian state" and that the land "belongs to us." The move formalizes plans for development on a roughly 12-square-kilometre tract that Israeli officials say will link Maale Adumim to Jerusalem and add thousands of housing units, a step critics say would effectively sever the West Bank and make a contiguous Palestinian state geographically impossible.

Netanyahu framed the project as part of a broader drive to secure Israeli territory, telling attendees he would double Maale Adumim's population and "safeguard our heritage, our land, and our security." The expansion centers on the E1 corridor, a sensitive area that has been the focus of Israeli planning ambitions for years but was repeatedly delayed because of intense international opposition. Far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have recently backed building roughly 3,400 homes there.

Israeli approval of the plan has drawn swift international...