Israel opens tender for 1,234 homes in West Bank's E1 area, sparking international outcry

Israel has opened a tender for the construction of 1,234 homes in the occupied West Bank's E1 area, advancing an illegal settlement expansion plan that human rights groups say would split Palestinian territory into two parts.

The move is part of Israel's plan to create the "E1" zone on Palestinian land, aiming to build a continuous settlement "corridor" between occupied East Jerusalem and the large Ma'ale Adumim settlement, about 7 km east of Jerusalem. This would obstruct Palestinian movement between the northern and southern West Bank and isolate communities on either side. The construction is considered illegal under international law.

According to Ubai al-Aboudi, a Palestinian human rights activist, the project would place "the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution" and make the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible.

The UN Human Rights Office has previously described the E1 project as "a serious and unlawful step towards entrenching annexation," while the UN Secretary-General has said that settlement construction there violates international law and directly contradicts UN resolutions.

History of the E1 plan

The E1 plan, short for "East 1," dates back to 1991 under Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and was further developed under Yitzhak Rabin in 1994, but housing construction was repeatedly delayed due to international pressure.

Israel began preliminary infrastructure work on E1 in 2004 and later built roads and a police station, but the plan to construct thousands of homes remained stalled as successive US and European governments warned that construction would threaten the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian state. Israel also postponed E1 progress in 2022 after pressure from the United States.

However, the second term of US President Donald Trump, which began in January 2025, created a more favorable political environment for settlement expansion by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, according to analysts.

E1 has thus been revived amid Israel's expanding control over the occupied West Bank, which has accelerated under Netanyahu's government, which relies heavily on far-right parties that support settlement expansion.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds an additional ministerial post in the Defense Ministry, oversees the Settlement Administration, which has broad authority over land, planning, and settlement development in the occupied West Bank. Smotrich, who lives in an illegal settlement on Palestinian land, has publicly linked E1 construction to preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. When the plan was advanced in 2025, he said its approval "buries the idea of a Palestinian state," and has repeatedly described his West Bank policies as aiming for Israeli sovereignty over the territory.

In March 2025, Israel allocated 335 million shekels ($92 million) to build a "Sovereignty Road," aiming to reroute Palestinian traffic away from the E1 area and Ma'ale Adumim to a separate road.

In May 2026, Israeli authorities demolished about 50 Palestinian shops and businesses at the eastern entrance of al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, a Palestinian town located on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about 2.4 km east of Jerusalem, before building the road linked to the settlement. Bethany is home to the Tomb of Lazarus, a holy site for Christian pilgrims and local visitors.

The E1 project is seen as part of a broader effort to settle the entire West Bank. In February 2026, Israel's security cabinet approved measures to expand Israeli authority over the occupied West Bank, including allowing stronger Israeli law enforcement in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority.

The deadline for submitting bids for the latest E1 tender is October 19, eight days before Israel's scheduled election on October 27.

E1's impact on Palestinian communities

E1 is located just east of occupied East Jerusalem and the illegal Ma'ale Adumim settlement.

Israel plans to expand Ma'ale Adumim into E1 with 3,400 settlement homes on approximately 12 square kilometers of Palestinian land. The broader project also envisions building hotels and roads connecting the settlement to Jerusalem more quickly.

The latest tender, announced by Israel's Ministry of Construction and Housing, includes 1,234 homes under one of two approved construction plans for E1.

E1's location makes it particularly controversial. Ma'ale Adumim and the surrounding settlement bloc extend deep into the occupied West Bank toward the Jordan Valley, with development threatening Palestinian communities already living on this land.

About 3,700 Palestinians, mostly Bedouin, live in 18 communities in the area and have suffered from home demolitions, displacement, and restrictions on basic services. Among them is Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village directly on the E1 corridor route, which has long faced the threat of demolition and forced transfer.

The tender was also announced while a lawsuit is still pending at the Jerusalem District Court, according to the Israeli NGO Ir Amim. The organization said a petition filed on behalf of Palestinian residents, along with Ir Amim, Peace Now, and Bimkom, is still pending, with the court in June ordering the Israeli state to file a detailed response by September 1.

Ir Amim said the government had committed to notifying the petitioners before the tender was opened but did not do so, and said the decision to proceed while the case is pending raises "serious concerns about respect for the ongoing judicial process and highlights the state's determination to fast-track the process ahead of Israel's upcoming election."

International reaction

The latest move has drawn collective condemnation from the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Norway.

"The decision of the Israeli Government to publish a construction tender for the E1 settlement project is unacceptable," their joint statement said. The governments warned that E1 would "undermine the prospects of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian territories."

They called on Israel to immediately retract the plan and took the unusual step of directly warning companies not to participate in the tender, citing possible "legal and reputational consequences, including the risk of involvement in serious violations of international law."

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also announced that Britain had summoned Israel's chargé d'affaires and demanded the tenders be withdrawn.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded by attacking the British government. "Someone should update Ed that the British Mandate for the Land of Israel ended in 1948 and Israel is an independent country," Ben-Gvir wrote on X.

Is international condemnation enough?

Despite repeated statements opposing settlement expansion, Palestinian activists and human rights groups argue that Israel faces few real consequences as it continues to change facts on the ground in the West Bank.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has called on the British government to impose an immediate trade ban on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. A coalition of five groups, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, also called on Britain to ban trade with settlements and impose further sanctions on Israel.

Palestinian human rights activist Ubai Al-Aboudi said international condemnation has failed to curb settlement expansion. "What we have seen so far is just empty words with little action against Israel," he told Al Jazeera. "Israel can live with all the verbal condemnation in the world as long as it advances facts on the ground."

Pointing to the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that found evidence Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza, as well as the Geneva Convention provision prohibiting an occupying power from transferring its civilians into occupied territory, he stressed that other states have an obligation not to facilitate or recognize such changes.

"The impunity Israel enjoys has led to this moment," he said, "where even the pretense of a two-state solution cannot be sustained."

Ines Abdel Razek, co-director of the Palestinian Public Diplomacy Institute, told Al Jazeera that international warnings about the threat to the two-state solution mask a deeper failure to act.

"The 'prospects of the two-state solution' is just diplomatic language used to cover up deliberate inaction and complicity in dispossessing Palestinians for decades."

"Israel's colonial regime has erased Gaza, destroyed schools, universities, hospitals, and agricultural land, displacing and dispossessing two million people, while continuing to annex the West Bank for decades almost uninterrupted. How has that not already killed the two-state solution?" she said.

"The international community has perfected its performance of outrage — crying out but not punishing or cutting ties with Israel, thereby emboldening Israel and entrenching its impunity. We have no illusions that today will be different."