Israel adds 2,167 homes to E1 settlement expansion tender

Jerusalem, Israel. Israel has added a tender for 2,167 housing units to its E1 settlement expansion plan, according to Israeli rights groups. Critics say the project could endanger the prospects for a future Palestinian state.

Expanded tender

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 planned to 3,401, Israeli rights group Ir Amim said in a statement issued late on Wednesday.

The tender is scheduled to open for bidding on October 25, two days before Israel is due to hold a parliamentary election.

Ir Amim said the bidding date demonstrated the government’s determination to advance the E1 project and “create an increasingly irreversible reality on the ground ahead of the elections.”

Concerns over Palestinian statehood

The project would bisect the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, fragmenting territory Palestinians hope will form the core of a future state.

A representative for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the decision on Thursday, saying the E1 tenders violate international law.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist member of the governing right-wing coalition, has said the plan would “bury” a Palestinian state.

International opposition

Many Western states and campaign groups have opposed the E1 settlement project, citing concerns that it could undermine a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Britain, France and Canada banned exports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank last week. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said the E1 project risks making a Palestinian state unviable.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.