Israel opens up bids for highly sensitive West Bank settlement project
The tender advances a long-delayed plan that critics say would split the West Bank and make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.
- On Tuesday, August 18, Israel's Housing Ministry opened tenders for 1,234 housing units in E1, with bidding due October 19—one week before the October 27 election. The move aims to create irreversible facts on the ground before a potential government change.
- The E1 corridor would sever the West Bank's north-south contiguity and isolate East Jerusalem from Palestinian territories, effectively fragmenting any future Palestinian state. Originally proposed in 1994, the project now faces acceleration after decades of international opposition.
- British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband condemned the tender as an "unacceptable and destructive act," summoning Israel's chargé d'affaires to demand an immediate halt. Britain is preparing targeted sanctions against those involved in the settlement expansion.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the project poses an "existential threat" to the two-state solution, while Human Rights Watch cautioned that contractors bidding risk complicity in war crimes. Companies face severe legal and reputational consequences for participating.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich frames the acceleration as a means to "bury" the possibility of a Palestinian state, aiming to finalize contracts before the election. Critics argue this scorched-earth policy seeks to tie the hands of any future government.
130 Articles
130 Articles
8 nations condemn Israeli settlement expansion and E1 project
Foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia voiced their categorical condemnation of Israel’s ongoing illegal settlement policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, rejecting the E1 settlement plan and related activities east of occupied East Jerusalem. In a joint statement on Friday, the ministers renewed their condemnation of settler violence and violations against Palestinians and thei…
The bidding plan for the construction of 1,234 housing units in the E1 area surrounding Jerusalem culminates a project cherished by Israeli governments of every sign. What changes now is the impunity with which Israel could carry it out.
CONFEDERACY: UAE, Joins Saudi Arabia and six other countries condemning Israel’s E1 settlement plan
According to a report from Gulf News, foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye and Egypt have issued a blistering joint condemnation of Israel’s E1 settlement plan, warning that the project represents a dangerous escalation that threatens to destroy any remaining chance for a viable Palestinian state. The […]
Seven Western countries, including the Netherlands, have strongly criticized a new illegal Israeli settlement that cuts the occupied Palestinian West Bank in two. Israel has already been in a bad light lately, due to violence by settlers and statements by Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Israel is burying two-state solution with settlement plan that divides West Bank
TEHRAN – The Israeli regime advanced an internationally condemned settlement plan in the occupied West Bank that could split the territory and “bury” the possibility of a two-state solution.
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