Israeli finance minister directly links green-lighting 3,000 housing units in West Bank with killing two-state solution, days after western states said they would recognise Palestine

Standing at the site of the planned settlement in Maale Adumim on Thursday, Smotrich, a settler himself, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either.

TEL AVIV, (Reuters) -Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has approved plans for a settlement that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, a move his office said would bury the idea of a Palestinian state.

Despite years of international pressure against a move that would forestall a Palestinian state, Israel's E1 settlement project is set to be approved next week.

JERUSALEM / PNN / In a move widely seen as a challenge to the international community and the two-state solution, Israeli Finance Minister

Anchorage summit, DC crackdowns, Gaza aid row, and Europe’s arms boom. Here is Thursday's SOFREP Evening Brief - August 14, 2025.

In a reversal of past US policy, the State Department backed the E1 project connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem, calling it essential to Israel’s stability and regional peace.