Email from Zionist Organization of America   ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA IN THE MEDIA     'There Will Be No Palestinian State': Netanyahu Signs Plan for E1 Settlement Expansion | The Times of Israel PM declares ‘this place belongs to us’ during signing ceremony in Ma’ale Adumim, as Smotrich vows that the next step is annexation of the West Bank   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives to attend a signing ceremony for a framework agreement to speed up development in the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, September 11, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)   "This place belongs to us.... We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security," said Netanyahu. By Agencies and TOI Staff (September 11, 2025 / TOI) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Thursday evening that “there will be no Palestinian state,” as he signed an agreement to push ahead with the controversial E1 settlement expansion plan that will cut across West Bank land Palestinians seek for a state. “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state; this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where thousands of new housing units would be added. “We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security… We are going to double the city’s population,” he added. Netanyahu said that the project is about “realizing a vision… something very big is happening here.” Last month, the E1 project, which would bisect the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final planning approval. Thursday’s signing ceremony was largely symbolic, but it allowed authorities to move forward with construction. The Civil Administration of the Defense Ministry approved the plans, which would see 3,412 housing units built in a new neighborhood of Ma'ale Adumim on the western side of the city, just east of East Jerusalem. Total investment in the project, which will include adding roads and upgrading major infrastructure, is estimated at nearly $1 billion. “Prime minister, all of us, soon, will thank you and congratulate and celebrate together the application of sovereignty throughout Judea and Samaria,” said Smotrich. Advocates of a two-state solution have argued for decades that the E1 project would in effect divide the West Bank in two for its Palestinian population, sever Palestinian East Jerusalem from the West Bank, and severely harm the future viability of a Palestinian state — something celebrated by the government’s ministers. Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometer tract of land known as E1, but the plan had been stalled for years in the face of international opposition. Speaking at Thursday’s ceremony, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich averred that Israel will soon celebrate the annexation of the West Bank. “The prime minister told me, ‘I’m staying here to hear what you have to say, and I know what you intend to say,'” said Smotrich. “Prime minister, all of us, soon, will thank you and congratulate and celebrate together the application of sovereignty throughout Judea and Samaria,” he added, using the biblical name for the West Bank. Continue Reading   Share This Email Share This Email Share This Email   DONATE   www.zoa.org   Copyright © Zionist Organization of America 2025. All rights reserved. Zionist Organization of America | 633 Third Ave 31 B | New York, NY 10017 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice