Israel plans to start work next month on a bypass that will close off the heart of the occupied West Bank to Palestinians and cement the de facto annexation of an area critical for the viability of a future Palestinian state. The road is a key part of the blueprint for a vast illegal new settlement in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, which would fragment the occupied West Bank. The Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the plans were intended to ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’