Israel Advances E1 Settlement Bids as Eight Nations and Seven More Warn It Could Kill Two-State Solution

Israel's Housing Ministry issued a notice this week inviting construction bids for more than 1,200 housing units in E1, a strip of land east of Jerusalem that connects existing settlements into one bloc, according to CNN. The bids are due one week before Israel's parliamentary elections at the end of October.

Peace Now, the Israeli settlement watchdog, called it "a last-minute maneuver that is part of the scorched-earth policy the government is pursuing at the end of its term to secure long years of conflict and bloodshed for Israel," according to CNN.

E1 isn't new. Israel gave final approval to the plan last year. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, said at the time, "The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans, but with actions," per CNN's reporting. For years, Israel intentionally delayed planning or construction in E1 because of international criticism and pressure. This government didn't hold back.

The geography is the whole argument. E1 sits between East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. Build it out, and you split the West Bank into a northern and southern half while cutting East Jerusalem, which Palestinians view as their future capital, off from Palestinian territory entirely. Critics on the right and left of this issue agree on that basic map. They disagree on whether that's a problem or the point.

On Friday, August 21, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Qatar and Egypt issued a joint statement rejecting the plan, according to a document reviewed by Diplomat News Network and confirmed by a copy posted through the UN's Question of Palestine portal. The eight governments called E1 "a dangerous escalation" and said it would undermine "the geographical contiguity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory," per that statement. They also backed sanctions against "entities and individuals responsible for illegal settlement activities."

Separately, a bloc of Western governments — France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Norway, Canada and the Netherlands — issued their own joint statement earlier in the week warning of "grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians," according to CNN. The European Commission, Greece, Austria, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden signed on afterward. Canada has told its own businesses not to "participate in activities that directly or indirectly support or facilitate illegal Israeli settlements and associated violence," CNN reported.

UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the decision to advance the plans an "unacceptable and destructive act." Threatening sanctions and other measures in response, he said in a statement that "Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution," according to CNN.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wasn't having it. He fired back on X: "It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland," per CNN.

This is happening while the Trump administration is mid-negotiation on a separate track. U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner met with Netanyahu on August 17 for nearly four hours pushing a 15-point roadmap to demilitarize Gaza and rebuild it, according to the Epoch Times. Kushner told Fox News they could see "progress in as little as 30 days" on pulling weapons out of Gaza and filling in tunnels over the following 60 to 90 days.

The eight Arab and Muslim states explicitly tied their E1 objection to that same Trump plan, saying settlement expansion "constitutes a direct challenge to international efforts aimed at achieving peace, foremost among them President Donald Trump's Comprehensive Plan," according to the joint statement. They noted the plan includes "President Trump's firm commitment not to allow annexation of the West Bank." Governments that are otherwise cooperating with Washington on Gaza are using Trump's own stated commitments to pressure Israel on the West Bank.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law by most of the international community and the United Nations, CNN reports. Israel disputes that characterization.