By: Express Web DeskSeptember 12, 2025 12:56 AM IST 3 min readE1 settlement is an area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank northeast of East Jerusalem. (Photo: X/ One Jewish State)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that there will be no Palestinian state, even as more and more countries in the West are coming forward to recognise it.Netanyahu made the comment while visiting the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, where he also signed an agreement to push ahead with a controversial Jewish settlement expansion plan.E1 settlement in West BankThe E1 settlement is an area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank northeast of East Jerusalem and the expansion plan will cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a future state. Palestinians hold the Palestinian flag during a protest. (Photo: Reuters)“We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said.“We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security… We are going to double the city’s population,” the Israeli PM added.How will E1 settlement affect Palestinian state According to Ynet, the E1 expansion plan calls for 3,401 housing units to be constructed in Maale Adumim, resulting in Ramallah and Bethlehem in the West Bank being cut off from each other. The report said the severing of territorial continuity between the Palestinian cities would make it nearly impossible to establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.‘Bury idea of Palestinian state’While Israel has long pushed for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, the plans have not materialired so far due to international pressure, as it is considered illegal under international law.Story continues below this adLast month, while approving the settlement construction plan in E1, Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had said that the move is designed to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Photo: AP)West Bank annexation a red line: UAEAmid the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the growing international recognition of the Palestinian state, Israel had recently proposed to annex parts of the West Bank, which it had occupied in 1967. Responding to the reports, the UAE, which in 2020, became the first Arab country in 26 years to normalise relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords, said the annexation of any part of the occupied West Bank would be a red line.“Annexation in the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE,” Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the UAE’s foreign ministry, said in a statement. “It would severely undermine the vision and spirit of (the Abraham) Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration.” Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd