Plan would sever West Bank, critics say

Israel's far-right finance minister announced approval Thursday of contentious new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups worry will scuttle plans for a Palestinian state by effectively cutting the territory into two parts.

- OHAD ZWIGENBERG AND MELANIE LIDMAN

MENAHEM KAHANA AFP/Getty Images ISRAELI police stand guard near the settlement of Maale Adumim, in the land corridor known as E1.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich boasted that the construction, which is expected to receive final approval later this month, could thwart Palestinian statehood plans. It came as many countries, including Australia, Britain, France and Canada, say they will recognize a Palestinian state in September.

The construction on a tract of land east of Jerusalem named El has been under consideration for more than two decades, and is especially controversial because it is one of the last geographic links between the major West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem.

The two cities are 14 miles apart by air. But once an Israeli settlement is completed, it would require Palestinians traveling between cities to drive several miles out of their way and pass through multiple checkpoints.

"This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize," Smotrich said during a ceremony Thursday. "Anyone in the world who tries today to recognize a Palestinian state — will receive an answer from us on the ground," he said.