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

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

Controversial project that would split West Bank into north and south has been frozen for decades due to international pressure; settler leader hails 'great and historical achievement' The post Smotrich to approve frozen E1 settlement homes: ‘Buries idea of Palestinian state’ appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday said his country would annex the occupied West Bank if the international community officially recognizes the state of Palestine next month.

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

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.

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.