Israel advances E1 settlement plan with tender for more than 1,200 homes

Israel has moved ahead with a tender for more than 1,200 housing units in the occupied West Bank as part of the E1 settlement project. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the decision, saying it would deepen fragmentation across the territory. The move concerns one of the most sensitive settlement areas around East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim bloc.

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According to the supplied report, Israel's Ministry of Construction and Housing approved the start of the bidding process for 1,234 housing units on Tuesday. The submission of bids is due to close on 19 October, shortly before elections scheduled in Israel on 27 October. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian body affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the tender should be seen as part of a broader project to reshape the area between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.

The E1 plan was approved by the government last year and is described as aiming to build more than 3,400 housing units on about 12 square kilometres of Palestinian land in the West Bank. Palestinian officials warned that advancing the project would confine Palestinians to disconnected enclaves surrounded by settlements. The report also says the plan would link settlements in occupied East Jerusalem to the Maale Adumim settlement bloc, further separating East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

The issue matters because the E1 area has long been viewed as strategically significant in any future Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Palestinian leaders want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while the project described in the report would make territorial continuity between East Jerusalem and the West Bank more difficult. The report says the plan would also effectively bisect the West Bank, which would have implications for movement, administration and the viability of a two-state solution.

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The supplied material says Israeli settlements and outposts are illegal under international law. It also notes that the E1 project has been delayed several times before, but is now moving forward on the ground. The report quotes a correspondent saying the project could be a major blow to the two-state framework, although that assessment is presented as commentary rather than an official finding.

What remains unclear from the supplied rows is how quickly the tender will translate into construction and whether the bidding process will draw formal objections or legal challenges. It is also not clear whether the current tender covers the full E1 plan or only part of it. The next key date is 19 October, when bids are due to close, followed by the Israeli election later in the month.

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