Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing has issued a new tender for 2,167 housing units next to the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, just east of Jerusalem. The project, known as E1, is part of a long-controversial plan that Palestinian advocates and human rights groups say would physically sever the northern and southern halves of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian territory where millions of Palestinians live under Israeli military control.
Bids can be submitted starting October 25 — two days before Israel’s parliamentary elections — through December 21. The Israeli watchdog group Ir Amim flagged the timing as significant, saying it reflects the government’s intent to push the settlement forward “with full force” and lock in changes on the ground before voters go to the polls, making the situation increasingly difficult to reverse.
This latest tender builds on another one released in August for 1,234 additional units. Combined, the E1 project has now approved 3,401 homes. Settlement expansion in the West Bank is considered illegal under international law by most of the global community, though Israel disputes that view, and the E1 plan has drawn sustained international criticism for decades because of its potential to undermine any future contiguous Palestinian state.
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Source: <![CDATA[Israel avanza plan y licita más de 2 mil viviendas que dividirían Cisjordania]]> (RSS::excelsior.com.mx – Portada).
Image: archer10 (Dennis), BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).