Britain has called on Israel to halt the controversial E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli authorities launched a tender process for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units.
Israel approved the E1 plan in August 2025, providing for the construction of around 3,400 homes in a 12-square-kilometre area east of Jerusalem between Ma'ale Adumim and East Jerusalem.
Critics argue that the project would effectively divide Palestinian territory in two, undermining the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state. The plan has been condemned by the United Nations and numerous international leaders.
According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now and Israeli media reports, the Housing Ministry this week opened the bidding process for more than 1,200 housing units under the project. Interested parties have until 19 October to submit bids, eight days before parliamentary elections.
UK calls plan "unacceptable"
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband described the move as "unacceptable".
"The Israeli government must immediately suspend the E1 plan, withdraw the tender and stop any settlement expansion," he said in a statement.
Miliband added that Israel's chargé d'affaires had been summoned to the Foreign Office, where British officials expressed their "deep disagreement" with the measure introduced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
According to the UK foreign secretary, the project "could jeopardise the viability of the two-state solution", which Britain supports.
Growing tensions in the West Bank
Beyond East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed, around 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside approximately 500,000 Israeli settlers residing in settlements regarded as illegal under international law.
Violence involving Israeli settlers has increased sharply since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, with reports of near-daily raids, intimidation and harassment targeting Palestinians.
According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry figures, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,097 Palestinians, including both civilians and combatants, since October 2023.
Israeli figures show that at least 48 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations over the same period.
Source: ANA-MPA
