Israeli bid to construct 3,400+ units in E1 settlement area under fire

An Israeli settlement watchdog has condemned the occupation government’s decision to publish a tender for constructing 3,401 settlement units in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank. The move, announced on December 10 by the Israeli Ministry of Settlement, represents a significant step toward implementing a settlement project that is widely believed to dismantle any prospects for a Palestinian state.

A tender is a public call for proposals by which contractors can bid to carry out construction projects. In the case of E1, the publication of the tender signals that the government is moving beyond planning and into the implementation phase. Once a bid is accepted, construction and marketing can begin. Tenders are a required step for formal settlement construction in only 13 settlements, making this move particularly significant.

The E1 tender is part of a broader acceleration in settlement construction. In 2025 alone, over 28,000 housing units were approved across the West Bank, including more than 9,600 through tenders, the highest number since 2017. Of these, over 6,700 units were designated for Ma’ale Adumim.
Despite multiple legal petitions filed by Peace Now and allied organizations, the courts have declined to freeze the plan, allowing the government to proceed with construction preparations.

The E1 plan, which covers around 12 square kilometers to the east of al-Quds, received approval from the so-called Higher Planning Council in August 2025. The construction would expand the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and establish territorial continuity with occupied al-Quds while severing connections between key Palestinian cities like Ramallah, Beit Lahm, and al-Khalil.

The E1 settlement corridor threatens to divide the West Bank into isolated cantons, undermining any possibility of a contiguous Palestinian territory. Bedouin communities, including the village of Khan al-Ahmar, also face forced displacement under the plan.

Domestic, international backlash
The NGO Peace Now issued a strong rebuke, calling the plan an act of “political recklessness”. It stated, “Construction in E1 is intended to lead to a one-state reality, which all indications suggest would take the form of an apartheid regime.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson warned that the E1 project poses an “existential threat” to the feasibility of a Palestinian state. The International Court of Justice has stated that such settlement activities violate international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Numerous international bodies, including the European Union, United Nations, and governments of France, Canada, and Australia, have called on the Israeli regime to halt the project, viewing it as a direct threat to the “two-state solution”.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees settlement planning in the West Bank, openly described the E1 project as a tool to “erase” the idea of a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed this sentiment, boasting that “there will be no Palestinian state; this place belongs to us,” at a ceremony in Ma’ale Adumim.