A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state has received final approval, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Reuters reports.

The approval of the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week by Smotrich and received final go-ahead from a defence ministry planning commission today, he said.

“With E1 we are delivering finally on what has been promised for years,” Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition, said in a statement. “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.”