Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a controversial settlement expansion plan that would cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state.
"There will not be a Palestinian state," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank where thousands of new housing units would be added.
Last month, the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval.
The Palestinian foreign ministry has said that the E1 settlement would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermines the possibility of a two-state solution.
"We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security... We are going to double the city's population," said Netanyahu at the event in Maale Adumim.
The event was streamed live by his office.
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."
