File Photo: A view of the Ma'ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank. AFP
"The new step reflects the insistence of the Israeli government on expanding the seizure of Palestinian lands and changing the demographic status of the territories it occupies," the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
On Thursday, Israel announced the plan as part of the illegal settlement expansion plan E1 Settlement Project, which aims to separate occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank.
In a statement titled “Burying the idea of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich’s office said the project includes building 3,401 housing units for Israeli settlers between an existing West Bank settlement and Jerusalem.
The new Israeli decision on Thursday comes weeks after the Israeli Knesset approved a non-binding motion calling on the government to annexe the West Bank.
It also comes as Israeli settlers, who number over 500,000 and are backed by the occupation army, increased their attacks on Palestinian villages and towns in addition to land grabs to unprecedented levels.
The settler attacks on Palestinians come amid a three-year-old Israeli crackdown on Palestinians in the West Bank that intensified after October 2023.
Since January 2025, the Israeli army has destroyed hundreds of homes, forcibly displaced tens of thousands, and left hundreds killed and wounded.
In its statement on Thursday, the Egyptian foreign ministry denounced Smotrich’s “extremist statements,” which reiterate the call for the imposition of Israeli sovereignty and settlement expansion in the West Bank.
It said such statements are “an indication of Israel's deviation and arrogance, which will not achieve security or stability for the countries of the region, including Israel, and ignoring the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.”
Egypt further affirmed its absolute rejection of settlement policies and the reprehensible statements made by Israeli government officials, which fuel hatred, extremism, and violence.
Moreover, Egypt warned Israel not to be drawn into its “delusional beliefs” about liquidating the Palestinian cause and establishing what is called “Greater Israel,” which it said "it would not accept or allow.”
On Wednesday, Egypt, the Arab League, and several Arab nations condemned Netanyahu's statements on his connection to the Zionist "Greater Israel" expansionist dream as a violation of Arab states’ sovereignty and a threat to regional peace and stability.
Egypt reaffirmed that the Israeli expansionist orientations are “completely incompatible” with the intensive regional and international efforts aimed at establishing a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
"Any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause through the plan of displacement, land confiscation, and settlement construction will remain desperate attempts doomed to failure," the foreign ministry statement read.
Egypt also emphasized that implementing the two-state solution and establishing a Palestinian state in accordance with the principles of international law and relevant UN resolutions is the only way to achieve peace and security in the Middle East.
It insisted that Israel's consistent adoption of extremist policies and rejection of peaceful means is the main source of instability in the region.
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