Speaking at the event that was streamed live by his office, Netanyahu said, 'We will safeguard our heritage, our land, and our security'. Photo: X screengrab | @netanyahu
'There will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us': Israeli PM Netanyahu
Netanyahu made the statement at a signing ceremony for a major Israeli settlement project in a sensitive piece of land called E1 in the occupied West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (September 11) declared that there would be no Palestinian state and that the land belongs to Israel.
Netanyahu made the statement at a signing ceremony for a major Jewish settlement project in the occupied West Bank.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,” said the Israeli PM at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem.
Speaking at the event that was streamed live by his office, Netanyahu said, “We will safeguard our heritage, our land, and our security. We are going to double the city’s population.”
The settlement on E1
The new settlement is set to come up on a sensitive piece of land called E1, about 12 sq kms area between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
The development plan that includes 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers, would be a link for thousands of Israeli settlements in the area. It would cut off much of the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem, which is the Palestinians’ choice for the capital of a future Palestinian state.
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The project to develop E1 has been stalled for years due to international opposition.
International opposition
United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres warned that building a settlement on E1 would split the West Bank in two, threatening the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state.
All the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law.
21 countries, including Australia, Japan, and Britain have condemned Israel’s plan to build its new settlement. Germany announced on Thursday that it will back a France-led proposal for a two-state solution.
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The Israeli NGO Peace Now, which keeps track of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, said last week that infrastructure work in E1 could begin within a few months.
The NGO said the “E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution”.