Netanyahu signs West Bank settlement expansion plan, rules out Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a controversial settlement expansion plan that would cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state. "There will never be a Palestinian state. This place is ours," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank where thousands of new housing units would be added. "We will safeguard our heritage, our land, and our security." Last month, the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval from a Defence Ministry planning commission. Netanyahu was joined by nationalist members of his coalition, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who in...