Author, Yolanda Nell
Place of work, BBC Middle East Correspondent, Jerusalem
Post location, Jerusalem
Published August 19, 2026
Reading time: 4 min
This is a translation of an article published in English on the BBC News website.
Israeli authorities have announced tenders for the construction of more than 1,200 settler housing in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank. Members of the current government say such projects are designed to destroy any chance of creating a Palestinian state.
Foreign states and international organizations have long condemned plans for the development of “Area E1” east of Jerusalem.
The new project will actually cut the West Bank into two parts and separate East Jerusalem from it.
Acceptance of applications for tenders will end a few days before the October Knesset elections, which will allow the current government to distribute contracts and make it much more difficult to review them in the event of a change of government.
From the perspective of international law, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal.
Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the 1967 war and has since built about 160 settlements there, home to about 700,000 Jews. In addition, about 3.3 million Palestinians live in this region. Palestinians believe that this territory, along with the Gaza Strip, should become part of the Palestinian state.
Israel's opponents and partners have long condemned settlement construction and expansion, but successive Israeli governments have allowed them to grow.
Since the return to power of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed a right-wing and “pro-settlement” ruling coalition, as well as after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the pace of settlement expansion has accelerated sharply.
Israel, however, held back construction plans in zone E1 for a long time due to pressure from abroad.
Not only the Palestinians, but also many of Israel's allies say the project would deal a heavy blow to hopes for a two-state peace solution and effectively carve up the West Bank.
But a year ago the government gave the project the green light. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultranationalist and settler, said at the time that the very idea of a Palestinian state was being destroyed.
Bedouins living in the area, as well as some Israeli NGOs, challenged the construction plans in court, but the Housing Ministry nevertheless issued a tender for the construction of 1,234 of the 3,401 housing units approved by the government last August.
Zone E1 with an area of about 12 square meters. km. located between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim.
The application deadline is October 19th. Parliamentary elections will be held on October 27. This should give the current government enough time to sign contracts with contractors, making it much more difficult for the next government to cancel construction.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, previously controlled by Jordan, in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, that is, included it in its composition, which is not recognized by most countries in the world.
Opponents of the E1 project say it will effectively cut off the southern part of the West Bank from the north and make it impossible to create and develop a continuous populated central part of the region from Ramallah through East Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
Israeli organization Shalom Ahshav (Peace Now), which is suing the government over the E1 development plans, said of the call for tenders: “The government is trying to sign contracts with contractors before the elections to make it much harder for the next government to cancel the construction.”
According to this organization, even partial implementation of the project "will fundamentally change the geographical and strategic character of the area, cutting off the northern part of the West Bank from the southern part and isolating East Jerusalem."
Palestinian activist Jamal Juma told the BBC that building settler houses in the area would be disastrous for Palestinians living there. According to him, the project will affect more than 40 Bedouin communities, which will be expelled from the area.
