Netanyahu touts success in thwarting Palestinian state

Speaking to residents, Netanyahu recalled a visit 25 years earlier, when he vowed to secure Israel’s presence in the territory.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the 50th anniversary of the settlement of Ofra on Friday by declaring he had fulfilled his longstanding pledge to block the creation of a Palestinian state.

Speaking to residents, Netanyahu recalled a visit 25 years earlier, when he vowed to secure Israel’s presence in the territory.

“We would do everything to ensure our continued hold on the Land of Israel, to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, to thwart the attempts that existed then — and unfortunately still exist — to try to uproot us from here. Thank God, what I promised — we kept,” he said.

Netanyahu stressed that successive American presidents and international actors had pressed Israel to compromise and that he resisted.

“Pressures from home, pressures from abroad … We stood firm together. We upheld the promise of the generations,” he said.

The remarks came days after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced he had approved tenders for roughly 3,400 new housing units in the strategic E-1 corridor between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.

Smotrich described the project as “the nail in the coffin” of a future Palestinian state.

The E-1 area has long been considered critical to Palestinian aspirations for statehood, as it links eastern Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria.

International opposition has kept plans for development frozen for decades. Smotrich argued that the move formalizes Israel’s de facto sovereignty, saying, “Approval of construction plans in E-1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”

Settlement leaders welcomed the announcement.

Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called it a “historic achievement,” while Ma’ale Adumim Mayor Guy Ifrah said new neighborhoods would enhance security.

“Palestinians have tried to undermine this area through illegal construction, but the creation of this new neighborhood will thwart their efforts,” Ifrah said.

Despite Smotrich’s declaration, the government has not issued an official statement confirming the approval or clarifying the precise location of the units.