Israel opened tenders for 1,234 housing units in the West Bank’s E1 area, a move that pushes ahead with a project east of Jerusalem and near Maale Adumim. Ed Miliband called the publication “an unacceptable and destructive act” and urged Israel to halt E1 plans immediately.
The tender covers part of 3,401 housing units approved by Israel last August, with bids due on 19 October and Israel's general election on 27 October. The timing matters because a tender moves the project from approval into a bid process that is harder to unwind once companies have committed to it.
Ed Miliband and Israel
Ed Miliband said Israel should “halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion.” Israel's foreign minister rejected his statement outright. That exchange turned a planning step into a direct diplomatic dispute, with the British Foreign Secretary pressing for a reversal before the bid deadline closes the route back.
The current Israeli government gave the go-ahead for E1 construction a year ago, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the idea of a Palestinian state was “being erased” when the plans were unveiled. The E1 area spans about 12 sq km between East Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, and the project would in effect divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem.
West Bank and East Jerusalem
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside those settlements, including Bedouin Palestinians whose challenge is part of the wider fight over the area.
Successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to grow, but the E1 tender is a sharper step because it shifts the project from a political promise to a procurement stage with deadlines. Whether the tender is challenged successfully or proceeds after 19 October is the open question now, and the answer will shape what the next government inherits after 27 October.
