Israel has announced it will build an enormous settlement in the West Bank to effectively “ bury the idea of a Palestinian state ”.

About 3,300 homes would be built between Jerusalem and the Jordan border under the plans announced on Thursday, in direct response to British and French plans to recognise an independent Palestine .

Critics fear the “E1” project will effectively cut the West Bank in two, preventing a contiguous body of land that could form the basis of a viable Palestinian state.

The plan was first envisaged decades ago but has been on ice mainly because of international pressure, including, most recently, from the Biden administration.

However, key Israeli cabinet posts are now filled by religious ultra-nationalists from West Bank communities who have long called for

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