Israel delays E1 settlement tender amid election concerns

The Israel Land Authority has formally announced that tenders for or the controversial E1 West Bank settlement project will not be considered until after the Israeli elections.

The announcement was made after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara  raised concerns that  Benjamin Netanyahu’s government could use the issue as election propaganda.

The evaluation and award of the tenders for 1,234 housing units in the controversial E1 settlement project will not now be considered before November 19,  even though bidding for the project ends one week before Israel goes to the polls on October 27.

E1 expansion  has faced intense criticism from governments across the globe, including the UK.

Announcing sanctions against Israel over illegal West Bank settlements in September, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband declared that the E1 plan would “create a set of facts on the ground to make the two-state solution unviable.”

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a strong supporter of the E1 development, immediately criticised the  decision.

He claimed Baharav-Miara was still seeking to delay the tender process “in the hope that the opposition would win the election and cancel the project.”

“She has one goal: to create a situation in which the tender does not finish in our [government] term, the left comes to power, and cancels the construction,” Smotrich insisted, reiterating that “the tender process, including the award of the contract, must be completed by the original date.”

The E1 project would add thousands of housing units as an extension of the Maale Adumim settlement, between the existing western boundaries of Maale Adumim and East Jerusalem, effectively “cutting off territorial contiguity between key Palestinian population centres.”

The Israel Land Authority has formally announced that tenders for the construction of 1,234 housing units in the controversial E1 settlement project “will not be considered before November 19.”