UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada condemn Israel’s West Bank settlement project

Opponents of the E1 project have warned that it would effectively block the establishment of a Palestinian state because it would cut off the north of the West Bank from the south, and prevent the development in the centre of a contiguous Palestinian urban area connecting Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war.

Many of its allies and Palestinians argued this development would deal a major blow to hopes of a two-state solution, effectively cutting the West Bank in two and isolating east Jerusalem.