By Alexander Cornwell MAALE ADUMIM, West Bank/TEL AVIV, (Reuters) -Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut if off from East Jerusalem,

Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, said on Thursday that a plan to significantly expand a settlement near occupied East Jerusalem had won approval. But a procedural step remained.

In a statement headlined “Burying the idea of a Palestinian state”, Mr Smotrich’s spokesperson said more details would be given later about the plan to build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.