Israel has issued a tender for the construction of some 1,200 housing units in a contested area of the occupied West Bank between Jerusalem and the large Maale Adumim settlement.The tender covers part of a wider plan for 3,401 housing units in the area known as E1. The Israeli housing ministry has set a deadline for bids just days before Israel’s elections on October 27th.The Palestinian Authority warned in a statement that advancing the plans would lead to the confining of Palestinians in the West Bank to “disconnected enclaves surrounded by settlements,” saying the 1,234 units should be viewed as a step in the implementation of a broader geopolitical project aimed at reshaping the area between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.Anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now, one of the groups which challenged the construction plan in the supreme court, said “at the height of the election period, the government is trying to realise the settler right wing’s vision of annexation, and tie the hands of the next government.”It says implementing the E1 project would isolate dozens of Bedouin communities, including Khan el-Ahmar, on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, and lead to expulsion from their land.All of E1 lies within the municipal boundaries of Maale Adumim, one of the largest settler cities in the West Bank, with a population of some 45,000.“This is tremendous news for Maale Adumim, and major news for the state of Israel as a whole,” said the city’s mayor Guy Yifrach. “The construction of the E1 neighbourhood is vital to the future of Maale Adumim, to its continued growth, expansion, and the strengthening of its position as a strong city in Israel.”The E in E1 stands for east. The area consists of a few barren hilltops directly east of Jerusalem’s urban sprawl, marking the start of the Judaean Desert – the last available undeveloped land adjacent to the holy city.The E1 project was initially approved more than 30 years ago when Yitzhak Rabin was prime minister, but fierce opposition from the international community, led by Washington, prevented construction.Israel’s West Bank police district headquarters was transferred to an E1 hilltop and highways linking Jerusalem to Maale Adumim were built, but the construction of new homes was frozen.When Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionist party, assumed responsibility for West Bank civilian affairs when the current government took power in December 2022, he made advancing the E1 project a top priority.Last August, he gave approval for 3,400 E1 housing units, saying the decision “practically erases the two-state delusion” by splitting up the territory that would be slated for a Palestinian state.The Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank, east of Jerusalem, is pictured on August 16th, 2023. Photograph: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images The Palestinian Authority warns E1 construction will block the possibility of territorial contiguity for Palestinians between East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah, effectively cutting the West Bank in two. Israel denies the claim, saying Palestinians can travel from north to south in the West Bank on an existing highway, 15 kilometres east of Maale Adumim.In May, 11 countries – Italy, Britain, France, Germany, Norway, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands – issued a joint statement urging contractors not to bid on settlement construction tenders. The statement explicitly warned contractors that taking part in the construction of settlements could carry legal and reputational consequences, including the risk of involvement in violations of international law.More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside some 3.4 million Palestinians. The territories were captured by Israel in 1967 and are sought by Palestinians for a future state. Most of the international community considers settlements as illegal.[ Israel opens internal criminal inquiry into killings of Hind Rajab (6) and Gaza rescue workersOpens in new window ]