Israel gave final approval for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank that would effectively cut the territory in two, and that Palestinians and rights groups say could destroy ...

Israel has given final approval for a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two.

The location of E1 is significant because it is one of the last geographical links between the major West Bank cities of Ramallah, in the north, and Bethlehem, in the south.