Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (C) arrives for a press conference about new settlement construction near Maale Adumim in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Aug. 14, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Thursday that a new settlement in the West Bank, east of Jerusalem, “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Smotrich visited the area, near the existing Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, on Thursday and said the new development, known only as E1, would get final approval later this month.
