Key Highlights
- Netanyahu signed an agreement to advance the E1 settlement project on September 11, 2025, authorizing construction of 3,412 housing units in occupied West Bank territory
- The project would create a continuous corridor between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, severing Palestinian territorial contiguity
- UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution supporting Palestinian statehood by 142 votes to 10 on September 12, 2025, one day after Netanyahu’s declaration
Opening Context: Israel Rejects Palestinian State
Netanyahu’s unequivocal statement represents the strongest official rejection of Palestinian statehood in recent years, coming at a critical juncture when multiple countries are preparing to formally recognize Palestine at the United Nations. The timing coincides with the advancement of the E1 settlement project, which had been frozen for over two decades due to international opposition but received final planning approval in August 2025.
This development occurs amid unprecedented settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank, with over 28,000 housing units advanced through planning stages in 2024 alone, according to European Union monitoring data. The E1 project specifically targets a strategically crucial 12-square-kilometer tract of land that would complete Israel’s territorial control between Jerusalem and its largest settlement, fundamentally altering the geographic reality for any future Palestinian state.
What he is saying is that from the river to the sea, Palestinians must be unfree. It is an open call for the subjugation of an entire people
— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) September 12, 2025
"This Place Belongs To Us": Israel PM Vows "There'll Be No Palestinian State"https://t.co/oE20YadNAo
Settlement Expansion Reaches Historic Levels As Israel Rejects Palestinian State
The E1 project represents the culmination of decades-long settlement expansion that has reached unprecedented levels under Netanyahu’s current government. According to official European Union data, Israel advanced plans for 28,872 housing units across the occupied West Bank in 2024, representing a 250 percent increase over seven years since 2018. The current settler population totals 737,332 individuals living across 147 settlements and 224 outposts in the occupied West Bank, including 503,732 settlers in the West Bank proper and 233,600 in occupied East Jerusalem.
- Settlement construction in East Jerusalem has prioritized Jewish neighborhoods with 57,000 housing units initiated since 1967, compared to only 600 units for Palestinian neighborhoods
- The Israeli government established five new settlements in 2024 by converting illegal outposts into official settlements
- A “bypass legalization mechanism” now allows 70 illegal outposts to receive government funding without completing formal approval processes
- Israel declared 24,258 dunams as “state land” in 2024, approximately half of all land declared since the Oslo Accords
The E1 project specifically would connect the Ma’ale Adumim settlement with East Jerusalem through a continuous Jewish population corridor, creating what critics describe as an irreversible fragmentation of Palestinian territory. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who spearheaded the E1 approval, explicitly stated the project would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” and serve Israel’s broader sovereignty agenda.
International Legal Framework Confirms Settlement Illegality
The advancement of the E1 project occurs despite overwhelming international legal consensus regarding settlement illegality under international law. The International Court of Justice delivered a landmark ruling on July 19, 2024, determining that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end as rapidly as possible. The ruling specifically found that Israeli settlement activities violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitute a breach of international declarations.
- UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) declares settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law with “no legal validity”
- Multiple UN Security Council resolutions since 1979 have condemned settlement construction as illegal
- The International Committee of the Red Cross maintains that settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention
- 93 percent of police investigations into settler attacks between 2005-2022 were closed without indictments, according to Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din
UN Security Council Resolution 2334 specifically demands that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities” and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power. However, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has reported 14 times since 2017 that Israel has taken no steps to comply with this resolution. The International Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling reinforced these positions, with all 13 judges unanimously agreeing that Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits not only forced population transfers but also any measures encouraging transfers of an occupying power’s population into occupied territory.
Settler Violence Escalates Alongside Settlement Growth
The expansion of settlement infrastructure has coincided with dramatic escalation in settler violence against Palestinian communities, creating what international observers describe as a coercive environment facilitating further territorial control. UN data shows settler violence reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with 1,420 documented incidents representing a further increase from 1,189 incidents in 2023, which was already the highest since monitoring began in 2006.
- At least 5 Palestinians were killed by settlers and 356 were injured throughout 2024
- Approximately 47 Palestinian communities have been forcibly displaced since October 2023 due to settler violence
- Over 100 harvest-related incidents occurred during the September-November 2024 olive harvest period
- 50 percent of 195 Palestinian communities in Area C are assessed at extreme risk of displacement
The violence has created systematic displacement patterns, with approximately 300 Palestinian families totaling 1,762 individuals, including 756 children, losing their homes due to combinations of settler violence, access restrictions, and psychological impacts of constant threats. During the 2024 olive harvest, settlers attacked Palestinians, damaged thousands of olive trees, and stole crops, representing destruction of multigenerational agricultural investments crucial to Palestinian livelihoods. The case of Khallet al Louza demonstrates the escalating pattern, where residents experienced 13 settler attacks in 2024 compared to previous years, including physical assaults on elderly farmers resulting in limb fractures.
Global Recognition Movement Gains Momentum Despite Israeli Rejection
Netanyahu’s categorical rejection of Palestinian statehood comes as international recognition of Palestine accelerates at the United Nations level. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on September 12, 2025, endorsing the “New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine” by 142 votes to 10, with the United States and Israel among the opposing votes. The resolution supports concrete steps toward establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel while condemning both Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israeli military actions in Gaza.
- 146 UN member states currently support Palestinian statehood recognition
- France, Norway, Spain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom are expected to formally recognize Palestine in coming weeks
- The resolution commits to “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” toward the two-state solution
- Israel’s delegation described the vote as a “carefully staged performance for headlines” and “theatre”
The Palestinian Authority’s spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh responded to Netanyahu’s declaration by asserting that a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital remains “essential for peace in the region” and described the two-state solution as “inevitable”. The timing of international diplomatic momentum coinciding with Netanyahu’s explicit rejection highlights the deepening contradiction between Israeli policy and global consensus on Palestinian rights.
Final Assessment
Netanyahu’s declaration that “there will be no Palestinian state” while advancing the E1 settlement project represents a definitive rejection of the two-state solution that has anchored international peace efforts for decades. The convergence of unprecedented settlement expansion, systematic displacement of Palestinian communities, and explicit governmental statements of permanent control suggests Israel’s current trajectory toward de facto annexation of occupied territory. This occurs despite overwhelming international legal consensus confirming settlement illegality and growing global recognition of Palestinian statehood rights, creating an increasingly stark contradiction between Israeli actions and international law that will likely intensify diplomatic and legal pressures in the coming period.
