Seven leaders condemn Israel's E1 settlement tender and warn businesses off bidding

The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada issued a joint statement on Thursday, 20 August 2026, condemning the Israeli government's decision to publish construction tenders for the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank.

The statement described the decision as unacceptable, and said the international community had long opposed the settlement expansion and had voiced grave concerns privately and publicly.

The seven leaders said the E1 settlement would undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories.

They reaffirmed that international law is clear that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, describing this as the position of the international community reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council. 

Warning to companies

The most operationally significant element of the statement is directed not at the Israeli government but at private industry.

The leaders said businesses should not consider bidding for the construction tenders, and should be aware of legal and reputational consequences including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law.

The seven governments urged Israel to retract the plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements in the West Bank. 

The statement said the plans would take the parties further from peace and further undermine Israel's international standing.

The statement also noted grave instability in the West Bank, citing unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy.

What the tender covers

According to the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, the Ministry of Construction and Housing published the tender on 18 August 2026 and opened it immediately for bidding, covering 1,234 housing units in E1, east of East Jerusalem.The bidding period closes on 19 October 2026, one week before Israeli elections scheduled for 27 October.

The Times of Israel reported that the tender covers seven residential compounds, and that the units form part of roughly 3,400 E1 housing units approved in August 2025.

Peace Now said the state had issued a new, separate tender for only part of the approved total rather than opening an existing tender from January covering the full number, in what the organisation said appeared intentionally designed to allow the tender to open and close before the election. The E1 area covers about 12 square kilometres between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim. 

Legal challenge and displacement concerns

Peace Now, Ir Amim and Bimkom, together with Bedouin Palestinian residents, have filed a petition against the plan in the Jerusalem District Court. Human Rights Watch said the tender covers about a third of the approved units and that the project would fragment the occupied West Bank by severing its northern part from its southern part, and forcibly displace more than 18 Bedouin communities.

Sarah Sanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch, said companies bidding to build the houses were bidding on complicity in a war crime.

Ir Amim said even partial implementation would create irreversible facts on the ground, fundamentally altering the geographic and strategic character of the area.

British action and Israeli response

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on 19 August that the publication of the tender was an unacceptable and destructive act, and that E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risk separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

Miliband said he had told Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar that the Israeli government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion.

The Israeli Chargé d'Affaires was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where the UK set out its objection and demanded an immediate reversal.

Miliband said the UK would set out a comprehensive set of measures in the coming weeks, including sanctions targeting those who participate in illegal settlement expansion.

Sa'ar rejected Miliband's statement outright, writing on X that he objected to what he called the patronising tone of the remarks, and that the Jewish people had the right to live throughout the Land of Israel just as the British had the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom.

Sa'ar accused the UK of blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism, and said the British government's decision to damage relations between the two countries was deeply unfortunate.

Wider reaction

Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot called the launch of the tenders unacceptable, saying it jeopardised the prospects for peace and security sought for Israelis and Palestinians.Egypt and Jordan separately condemned the project, with Cairo highlighting its impact on East Jerusalem and Amman accusing Israel of seeking to entrench the occupation. 

Palestinian National Council President Rawhi Fattouh warned that issuing the tenders brought E1 closer to implementation. 

Background

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the E1 expansion plan when it was approved in August 2025, saying it practically erased what he called the two-state delusion by splitting up the territory slated for a Palestinian state.

The project was frozen for years amid opposition from the international community, including past United States administrations.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded 38 incidents between 3 and 9 August 2026 in which Israeli settlers injured Palestinians, damaged their property, or both. 

In the same period, Israeli forces demolished 25 Palestinian-owned structures, displacing 29 people including 17 children.

An earlier OCHA update recorded more than 1,380 settler-related incidents since the start of the year, affecting more than 250 Palestinian communities.The seven leaders closed their statement by reiterating their commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution.