Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that work will start on a divisive, 3,000-home settlement that will cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem.
His office said the plans would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state, and with it the two-state solution.
It comes after a host of Western countries such as France, the UK and Australia said they would recognise a Palestinian state.
