Israel adds 2,167 homes to West Bank E1 settlement tender
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| Beit Or, a residential neighborhood in the Gilo settlement in southern Jerusalem, 2009. FILE PHOTO. |
JERUSALEM — September 17, 2026
Israel has added a tender for 2,167 housing units to its planned E1 settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli rights group Ir Amim. The new tender brings the number of housing units covered by tenders for the project to 3,401.
The E1 project is located east of Jerusalem, between the city and the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. Critics say construction in the area could divide the West Bank and make movement between Palestinian population centers and East Jerusalem more difficult.
Ir Amim said the latest tender is in addition to one covering 1,234 housing units that was announced in August. The group said bidding on the new tender is scheduled to open on October 25, two days before Israel's parliamentary election.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the move. A representative for President Mahmoud Abbas said the E1 tenders violate international law.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a senior figure in the governing coalition, has previously presented the E1 project as part of efforts to expand Israeli settlements in the area. Ir Amim said the timing of the new tender showed the government's determination to advance the project before the election. That assessment is the rights group's interpretation of the government's actions.
Israel's Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the source material.
The E1 plan has faced opposition from several Western governments because of its potential effect on the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state. In August, the leaders of several countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Norway, said the E1 project would undermine the prospect of a two-state solution.
The United Nations has also repeatedly opposed Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. A June 2026 report by the U.N. secretary-general said Security Council Resolution 2334 considers Israeli settlements in territory occupied since 1967 to have no legal validity and to be a major obstacle to a two-state solution.
Israel disputes the international legal position on its settlements. The government has continued to advance settlement projects in the West Bank, while legal challenges to the E1 plans remain before Israeli courts. In September, a Jerusalem District Court rejected an interim request to halt the earlier 1,234-unit tender, although the broader legal petitions were still pending.
The latest tender therefore adds to an already approved 3,401-unit E1 development plan, with its progress now closely linked to both ongoing legal proceedings and Israel's approaching election.
