'There Will Be No Palestinian State, This Place Belongs To Us,' Says Netanyahu

Last Updated:September 11, 2025, 23:16 IST

Speaking at the signing of a major new settlement project in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu promised to double the population of the city

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a signing ceremony for a framework agreement in the occupied-West Bank settlement on September 11. (AFP photo)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday declared that there would be no Palestinian state and that the land belongs to Israel. He made the statement at a ceremony in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem.

Speaking at the signing of a major new settlement project in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu promised to double the population of the city and safeguard what he called Israel’s “heritage, land, and security".

“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us," Netanyahu said at the event, which was streamed live by his office.

The project focuses on a sensitive area called E1, a roughly 12 square kilometre piece of land between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. For years, plans to develop E1 were stalled due to international opposition.

Last month, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich supported building about 3,400 new homes there, a move widely condemned internationally.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that building on E1 would split the West Bank in two, threatening the possibility of a connected Palestinian state. Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of Israeli approval.

Western countries, including Britain and France, plan to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month. Britain has said it will take this step if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, which began after Hamas’s attack in October 2023.

In recent months, far-right Israeli ministers have openly called for annexing the West Bank. The Israeli NGO Peace Now, which tracks settlement activity, warned last week that work on infrastructure in E1 could start in a few months, with housing construction beginning within a year. The group called the E1 plan “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution."

The West Bank, excluding east Jerusalem annexed by Israel, is home to around three million Palestinians and about 500,000 Israeli settlers.

(With inputs from AFP)

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