The tender launch in the E1 corridor

The Israeli Ministry of Housing has opened bidding tenders for 1,234 housing units in the disputed E1 sector of the West Bank, positioned between East Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement. The 12-square-kilometre area forms part of an expansive master plan comprising 3,401 residential units that received formal government approval in August 2025. The deadline for commercial contractors to submit bids is scheduled for 19 October 2026, falling eight days prior to the Israeli general election set for 27 October 2026. Local Palestinian Bedouin communities and Israeli peace organisations have submitted legal petitions to Israeli courts seeking an injunction against the development.

Western condemnation and sanctions preparations

Governments across Europe and North America, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, and Norway, issued joint statements calling on Israel to immediately retract the tender. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot also publicly demanded an immediate halt to all settlement expansion in occupied territories.

“E1 would cut the West Bank in two, separate Palestinian communities in the north from those in the south, and further isolate East Jerusalem from Palestinian territory. This would seriously undermine the viability of a two-state solution.”

In London, the Foreign Office summoned the Israeli chargé d'affaires on 19 August 2026 to communicate formal opposition. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband characterised the move as unacceptable and stated that London would prepare concrete responses.

“We will determine a comprehensive set of measures and impose sanctions.”

In Brussels, European Union officials began compiling potential retaliatory measures. Diplomatic sources cited by Channel 13 indicate that prospective European Union steps include origin labelling on goods from across Israel, the reduction of academic partnerships, and suspensions affecting selected security and diplomatic cooperation channels.

Israeli cabinet positions

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar rejected the international criticism and defended the construction initiative as a sovereign right.

“The Jewish people have a right to live in the whole land of Israel, just as the British have a right to live in London and throughout Britain.”

The E1 project has long received support from right-wing ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich previously praised the approval of the 3,401 units, arguing that physical construction on the parcel erases prospects for a partitioned Palestinian state.

“They will talk about the Palestinian dream and we will continue to build a Jewish reality.”

Tendered units1,234

Total approved units3,401

Tendered units

1234 units

Total approved units

3401 units

Data from the article text

Geographic and demographic consequences

The E1 corridor covers 12 square kilometres connecting Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adumim, where development would bifurcate the West Bank into separate northern and southern sections. The United Nations has designated the plan an existential threat to the two-state framework, warning that construction separates East Jerusalem from the Palestinian urban centres of Bethlehem and Ramallah. The West Bank currently contains roughly 700,000 Israeli settlers living alongside more than 3 million Palestinians. Observers point out that establishing binding commercial contracts ahead of the 27 October elections will make it difficult for any future Israeli administration to reverse the project.