The European Union has condemned Israel’s decision to open a tender for more than 1,200 housing units in the strategically sensitive E1 area of the occupied West Bank, warning that the project could inflict lasting damage on prospects for a negotiated two state solution.
In a statement issued on 23 August, the EU’s foreign-policy chief said implementation of the plan would divide the West Bank, isolate occupied East Jerusalem and further undermine the territorial continuity required for a viable Palestinian state.
The bloc urged Israel to withdraw the tender, halt the E1 project and stop all other settlement expansion.
The tender, published by Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing on 18 August, covers 1,234 homes, according to reporting by Euronews and Al Jazeera citing the Israeli settlement-watch group Peace Now.
The bidding process reportedly concerns one part of a broader E1 development plan for roughly 3,400 homes on an area of about 12 square kilometres between East Jerusalem and Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, around seven kilometres to the east.
E1’s location makes the project especially contentious. Critics say a built-up Israeli settlement corridor between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim would create physical and administrative barrier across the central West Bank, complicating movement between its northern and southern parts, separating East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory.
The EU described that outcome as fundamentally harmful to the two-state framework; Ireland’s foreign minister similarly called the project a threat to a “viable, contiguous Palestinian State.”
The tender has also drawn condemnation from the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada.
In a joint statement reported by
Euronews, the seven governments said the project would drive a wedge through the West Bank and warned companies that participation could carry legal and reputational risks.
Britain also summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected the criticism, arguing that Jewish people have the right to live throughout what he called the “Land of Israel,” while accusing Britain of ignoring Palestinian extremism.
The wider E1 plan has remained on hold for years because of international opposition, despite preliminary infrastructure work and the construction of roads and a police headquarters in the area.
The latest tender reportedly sets 19 October as the deadline for bids, eight days before Israel’s scheduled 27 October election.
Al Jazeera reported that an Israeli legal challenge to the project remains pending before the Jerusalem District Court, raising further questions about the timing of the tender.
Humanitarian concerns are also intensifying. Al Jazeera reported that about 3,700 Palestinians, many of them Bedouin, live in 18 communities in the surrounding area, where residents have faced home demolitions, displacement and restrictions on basic services.
Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin community near the planned corridor, has long faced the threat of demolition and forcible displacement, according to the report.
The EU linked its objection to the settlement tender to a broader deterioration in the West Bank, citing instability and record levels of settler violence.
Ireland likewise described attacks on Palestinian villages and communities as part of an escalating pattern and called
for accountability.
The United Nations’ humanitarian office has separately warned that E1 would fragment the West Bank and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory, while UN reporting has described settler violence in 2026 as reaching
unprecedented levels.
The EU maintains that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including E1, are illegal under international law. Israel disputes that characterization and has continued to advance settlement construction.
The immediate diplomatic question is whether international condemnation will lead Israel to withdraw the tender—or whether the bidding process will translate a long-contested plan into construction on the ground.
Key facts “The EU reaffirms its unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting
peace based on the two-state solution,” the EU statement said, envisioning Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognised borders.
