UK, allies condemn Israeli E1 settlement plan for 1,200 West Bank homes

Israel’s plans to open tenders for the construction of about 1,200 settlement homes in a strategically important area of the occupied West Bank have drawn fresh condemnation from major Western powers.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada called the decision “unacceptable” and urged Israel to “retract the plans immediately”.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are considered illegal under international law. Israel had held off for decades, under international pressure, from advancing plans to build in the E1 area east of Jerusalem.

The project has long faced opposition from Palestinians and many of Israel’s allies, who say it could deal a major blow to prospects for a two-state solution by effectively cutting the West Bank in two and isolating East Jerusalem.

“At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning,” the statement by the European countries and Canada said.

“Not only will they [the plans] take us further from peace, but they further undermine Israel’s international standing,” it added.

In a separate statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the E1 plan posed an “existential threat” to the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state. Belgium’s foreign minister also condemned the plan.

Earlier on Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband condemned the move, drawing an “outright” rejection from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

Despite a legal challenge to the plans by Bedouin Palestinians living in the area and Israeli peace groups, Israel’s Housing Ministry on Wednesday issued a tender for 1,234 of the 3,401 housing units approved by the government last August.

The tender covers about 12 sq km between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim.

When the plans were unveiled, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultranationalist and settler, said the idea of a Palestinian state was “being erased”.

The deadline for bids is October 19, just days before Israel’s general election on October 27, making it more difficult for any future government to reverse tenders that have already been issued.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing around 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians claim the territories, along with the Gaza Strip, for a future independent state, with about 3.3 million Palestinians living alongside the settlers.

Settlement expansion has accelerated since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, as well as since the Gaza war began following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Opponents of the E1 project have warned that it could effectively prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian state by cutting off the northern and southern parts of the West Bank and blocking the development of a contiguous Palestinian urban area linking Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.