Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced his plan to build more than 3,000 new housing units as part of a settlement project in the occupied West Bank . The far-right politician says the construction will “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

“They will talk about a Palestinian dream, and we will continue to build a Jewish reality,” said Smotrich during a press conference on Thursday. “This reality is what will permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to make a statement regarding the settlement plan. TIME has reached out to his office for comment.

Smotrich’s construction goal—which is set to face a final approval hearing by the Higher Plann

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