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.

Thirty-one Arab, Islamic countries, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Gulf Cooperation Council have strongly condemned

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.