Israel opens up tenders for controversial West Bank settlement project

Israel has constructed approximately 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since capturing the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. Palestinians, together with those in Gaza, aspire to an independent state, and an estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside the settlers. Despite sustained international opposition, successive Israeli governments have permitted settlement expansion to continue. Growth has accelerated since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022, heading a right‑wing, pro‑settler coalition, and coinciding with the outbreak of the Gaza war after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. For years, international pressure kept Israel from advancing construction plans in the E1 corridor. Many of Israel’s allies and Palestinians argue that building there would deal a major blow to the prospect of a two‑state solution, effectively cutting the West Bank in half. The current Israeli government gave the go‑ahead for E1 development a year ago, expressly to "erase" the thought of a Palestinian state. Despite an Israeli tribunal challenge to the plans by Bedouin Palestinians residing in the area and Israeli rights groups, the Housing Ministry has issued a tender for 1,234 of the 3,401 housing units approved by the government last August approved by the Israeli authorities past August. The tender covers about 12 sq km (4.6 sq miles) between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim. At the time of the announcement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is ultranationalist and a settler, said the thought of a Palestinian authorities was "being erased". The deadline for bids is 19 October, just days before Israel’s general election on 27 October. That timing should allow the government to sign contracts with contractors that a future administration would find far more difficult to overturn.