France condemns Israeli plan to build E1 settlement project in West Bank

France's foreign ministry has called on Israel to drop a plan to build thousands of new illegal settlements in the West Bank, calling the project "a serious violation of international law".

A ministry spokesman said on Saturday that France "condemns with the utmost firmness" Israel's decision to build 3,400 homes in an area that aims to connect existing settlements in Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank with occupied East Jerusalem.

Several countries have said that project, called E1, undermines hopes for a contiguous future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, declared on Thursday that he will proceed with the E1 settlement project because it “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.

“Approval of construction plans in E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are taking on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan that we began implementing with the establishment of the government,” the finance minister said.

“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem. This is Zionism at its best - building, settling, and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel.” 

The isolation of East Jerusalem from parts of the West Bank will force Palestinians to take lengthy detours to travel between several cities and towns. 

The plan has been likened to fragmenting occupied Palestine into "Bantustans", a reference to Black-only ghettos created across apartheid South Africa. 

“Hebron and Bethlehem will become another Gaza - a strip isolated from the West Bank. Ramallah will be the same,” Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, told Middle East Eye earlier this week.