Denmark, European countries pushing for emergency UN security council meeting on E1

The United Nations Security Council is preparing to convene an emergency meeting next week on Israeli plans to build in the E1 area of the West Bank, east of Jerusalem, Israel’s Mission to the UN tells The Times of Israel.

The effort is being led by a number of European countries, led by UNSC member Denmark.

The move is an attempt to forestall Israel’s tender process. The Israel Land Authority’s deadline for opening tender bids on the construction of 1,234 housing units is November 19.

Israel is working with its close allies on the UNSC, the US and Greece, to torpedo the meeting.

“While the Middle East is on fire and Iran’s terrorist regime continues to threaten global peace, European countries are choosing to summon the Security Council for an emergency meeting simply because Israel is building in its own country,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon tells The Times of Israel.

“This is a moral disgrace and proof of how completely out of touch with reality these countries have become. Our right to build and develop our country is indisputable. We will not accept dictates or moral lectures from those who choose to turn a blind eye to real terrorism.”

The E1 project would see thousands of housing units built as an extension of the Ma’ale Adumim city-settlement, between the existing western boundaries of Ma’ale Adumim and East Jerusalem, cutting off territorial contiguity between key Palestinian population centers, including Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.