Israel has added a tender for 2,167 housing units to its E1 settlement expansion plan, a left-wing Israeli rights group says of a project that critics — and proponents — say undermines prospects for a future Palestinian state.
The project would bisect the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, fragmenting the land Palestinians hope will form the heart of a potential state.
The tender for 2,167 units is in addition to a tender for 1,234 units announced at the end of August, bringing the total number of housing units to 3,401, rights group Ir Amim says in a statement issued last night.
The decision is condemned today by a representative for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who says the E1 tenders are in violation of international law.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has boasted that the plan would “bury” a Palestinian state.
The tender is scheduled to open for bidding on October 25, two days before the Knesset election.
Ir Amim claims the bidding date shows the government’s resolve to push ahead with the E1 project and “create an increasingly irreversible reality on the ground ahead of the elections.”
The Prime Minister’s Office does not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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