Israel PM Netanyahu vows 'there will be no Palestinian state'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that there would be no Palestinian state, speaking at a signing ceremony for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank.

"We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us," Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem.

"We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security... We are going to double the city's population." The event was streamed live by his office.

Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometre (five square mile) tract of land known as E1, but the plan had been stalled for years in the face of international opposition.

The site sits between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, near routes connecting the north and south of the Palestinian territory.

Last month, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive parcel of land.

His announcement drew condemnation, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying the settlement would effectively cleave the West Bank in two and pose an "existential threat" to a contiguous Palestinian state.

All of Israel's settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.

Several Western governments, including Britain and France, have announced they intend to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.

Britain has said it will take the step if Israel fails to agree to a ceasefire in the devastating Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 2023 attack.

Far-right Israeli ministers have in recent months openly called for Israel's annexation of the territory.

Israeli NGO Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, said last week that infrastructure work in E1 could begin within a few months, and housing construction within about a year.

It said the E1 plan was "deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution".

Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers.