\n<\/p>\n
Israel’s foreign minister responded harshly to Miliband’s statement, which he said he “reject[ed] outright”.<\/p>\n
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.<\/p>\n
Despite the fierce international opposition, successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to grow. <\/p>\n
However, expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.<\/p>\n
Under international pressure, Israel held off for decades on plans to build in E1. <\/p>\n
Many of its allies and Palestinians argued these would deal a major blow to hopes of a two-state solution, effectively bisecting the West Bank. <\/p>\n
But the current Israeli government gave the go-ahead for E1 construction a year ago, expressly to “erase” the idea of a Palestinian state. <\/p>\n
Despite an Israeli court challenge to the plans by Bedouin Palestinians living in the area and Israeli peace groups, the housing ministry has now issued a tender for 1,234 of the 3,401 housing units approved by the Israeli government last August.<\/a> <\/p>\n It covers about 12 sq km (4.6 sq miles) between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim.<\/p>\n At the time of their unveiling, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – an ultranationalist and settler – said the idea of a Palestinian state was “being erased”.<\/p>\n