Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reaffirmed his vow that there would be no Palestinian state during a signing ceremony for a major settlement expansion project in the occupied West Bank. Speaking at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem, Netanyahu said, "We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us."

Netanyahu pledged to "safeguard our heritage, our land and our security" and declared plans to double the population of Maale Adumim. The ceremony was livestreamed by his office and marked the formal advance of the controversial E1 settlement plan, which involves constructing thousands of new homes on about 12 square kilometres of land between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently backed the plan to build around 3,400 homes in the sensitive E1 area, a move condemned internationally, including by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called it an "existential threat" to the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are widely regarded as illegal under international law, a stance supported by many Western governments, including the UK and France, which have announced plans to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations.

The E1 project has drawn sharp criticism for threatening to divide the West Bank and sever Palestinian East Jerusalem from other Palestinian territories, undermining the viability of a two-state solution. Israeli NGO Peace Now warned that the plan is "deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution."

The West Bank, excluding Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, is home to around three million Palestinians and approximately 500,000 Israeli settlers. Netanyahu’s latest endorsement of the settlement expansion signals a further challenge to international efforts aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiated coexistence.

With inputs from AFP