The United Kingdom, Australia and Japan are among 21 countries that have condemned Israel’s plans to build a controversial illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, which they say renders a future two-state solution for Palestinians impossible.

In Al Eizariya, Mohammed Faroun sleeps on the floor of his shuttered café, waiting for Israeli bulldozers. His business, like thousands of others, stands in the way of a new highway and the E1 settlement expansion east of Jerusalem,

In a reversal of past US policy, the State Department backed the E1 project connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem, calling it essential to Israel’s stability and regional peace.