Jerusalem: Head of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission Minister Moayyad Shaaban announced on Wednesday that occupation authorities, through the so-called Israel Land Authority, have issued a major tender to build 3,401 settlement units in the E1 area east of occupied Jerusalem. In a press statement, Shaaban described the move as an extremely dangerous development amid the accelerating assault on Palestinian land through colonial settlement schemes.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Shaaban emphasized that the occupation has transitioned from the planning and approval stage to the actual implementation of the E1 project, one of the most dangerous settlement plans that had been frozen for three decades. He explained that the tender completes the E1 plan, which was approved in August last year after nearly 30 years of delay due to international pressure.
Shaaban warned that the new tenders would effectively sever Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, linking the Ma'ale Adumim settlement to the city under the "Greater Jerusalem" project. This development, he argued, would undermine any realistic possibility of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state.
He also highlighted that 2025 has seen an unprecedented surge in settlement tenders, totaling about 10,098 units. The E1 plan spans 12,000 dunums and, if implemented, would bisect the West Bank, isolating Jerusalem and making natural geographic continuity impossible.