The E1 area is a strategic corridor in East Jerusalem that Israel plans to use to link the occupied city with nearby settlements, including Maale Adumim, through land confiscation and new construction.

Israeli authorities have issued a tender to build 3,401 new illegal Jewish settler homes in an area known as E1, east of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian government body said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission warned that the Israeli move could sever East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and block the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state, the Anadolu news agency reported.

NEW | Tender posted for construction of 3,401 homes in settlement designed to “bury idea of a Palestinian state” – The Guardian

Israel is moving forward with plans to construct a massive illegal settlement in the E1 area of the West Bank, a project critics say is aimed at… pic.twitter.com/dZWCB7ffvi

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 6, 2026

The E1 area is a strategic corridor in East Jerusalem that Israel plans to use to link the occupied city with nearby settlements, including Maale Adumim, through land confiscation and new construction, a plan Palestinians say would prevent natural Palestinian urban expansion.

Aimed to Isolate Jerusalem

Commission head Muayyad Shaaban said the tender by Israel’s Land Authority signals the effective launch of a project that had been formally frozen for nearly three decades due to international pressure, adding that approval procedures for the plan were completed in August 2025.

He said the move aims to fully separate Jerusalem from its Palestinian hinterland, fragment the West Bank and prevent Palestinian urban growth east of Jerusalem, fundamentally altering the city’s geographic and demographic landscape.

2025 Sees Record-High Expansion of Illegal Israeli Settlements in West Bank 

According to Shaaban, Israel issued tenders in 2025 for 10,098 settlement units across the occupied West Bank, with more than 7,000 allocated to the Maale Adumim settlement.

This is in addition to 900 units for the Efrat illegal settlement on lands in the Bethlehem governorate, 700 units for the illegal Ariel settlement in Salfit governorate, and other tenders, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Undermines Viability of a State

Israel’s left-wing settlement watchdog Peace Now condemned the E1 tender as “political recklessness” that undermines any hope “for a political solution and a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

It said the construction in E1 “is intended to create irreversible facts on the ground leading to a one-state reality, which all indications suggest would take the form of an apartheid regime,” the watchdog said in a statement.

Israel Advances E1 Construction Tender, Severely Undermining the Viability of a Political Solution. Read our report: https://t.co/61JlRZBAGx pic.twitter.com/asBhcOQEQ7

— Peace Now (@peacenowisrael) January 6, 2026

“Reversing the damage caused by construction in E1 would require many years and substantial effort. In the meantime, the entire region will remain trapped in a cycle of violence, injustice, and lack of hope,” it added.

The group said 2025 ended with a record 9,629 settlement homes, including more than 6,700 units in Maale Adumim, exceeding the total published tenders of the previous six years combined.

ICJ Ruling

Peace Now added that the tenders stem from a government framework agreement signed in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu between the Israeli government and the Maale Adumim municipality.

‘Illegal’ – UK Condemns Israel’s Approval of 19 New Illegal West Bank Settlements

About 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in hundreds of illegal settlements across the West Bank, including about 250,000 in East Jerusalem, figures Palestinian officials cite as evidence of daily settler violence aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

(PC, Anadolu)