Israel gave final approval for a settlement project in the occupied West Bank that would effectively cut the territory in two, which Palestinians say could dash hopes for a future Palestinian state.

An Israel Defense Ministry planning committee gave approval Wednesday to a controversial settlement plan that would effectively split the West Bank in two.

"Smotrich has never made a more accurate prediction," said Haaretz (Tel Aviv). The E1 apartments "would cut the West Bank in two" – separating north from south – while strangling the three central Palestinian cities of Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. That would be "a death sentence" for any two-state solution.