Bezalel Smotrich outlines plan for 3,000 new housing units in West Bank

Defence affairs - Def-Geopolitics

Israeli far-right minister says Netanyahu and Trump agreed to West Bank settlement plan

Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US president Donald Trump had agreed to revive the contentious E1 settlement scheme – although there was no immediate confirmation from either leader.

It comes after we reported earlier that Smotrich announced plans to begin construction on a settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem.

Standing at the site in Ma’ale Adumim, Smotrich said:

Whoever in the world is trying to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground. Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses, facts of neighbourhoods.

Smotrich told Reuters the plan would go into effect on Wednesday, without specifying what would happen that day.

Most of the international community considers all settlements illegal under international law, a position backed by multiple UN Security Council resolutions calling on Israel to halt settlement activity.

In June, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand imposed sanctions on Smotrich and another far-right minister who advocates settlement expansion, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.