Israel said Thursday it was moving forward with controversial plans to build thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank, a development far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said would “permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian government condemned the scheme, calling it illegal and saying the fragmentation of territory would rip up peace plans for the region.

Plans to develop the illegal E1 settlement, which would jeopardise a future Palestinian state, widely condemned.