{"id":1166404,"date":"2026-08-24T10:25:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1166404\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T10:25:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:25:28","slug":"e1-settlement-why-netanyahu-israels-right-might-not-mind-global-outrage-occupied-west-bank-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1166404\/","title":{"rendered":"E1 settlement: Why Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s right might not mind global outrage | Occupied West Bank News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israeli government last week invited bids for the building of more than 1,200 units, a key step towards the construction of the E1 settlement<\/a> in the occupied West Bank just two months before Israel\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n

E1 (East 1) would link Ma\u2019ale Adumim and other illegal Israeli settlements to occupied East Jerusalem, effectively severing the West Bank in two. Both supporters and critics agree that its construction would end the possibility of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The move has drawn international outrage, including from the United Nations.<\/p>\n

But sections of Israel\u2019s political class are using this global backlash to their own ends and could frame their support for E1 as a key pitch in their election campaigns.<\/p>\n

How could they benefit Israel?<\/p>\n

Many on Israel\u2019s right, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thrive on the international outrage their comments and plans draw, particularly criticism from European nations.<\/p>\n

Since October 2023, Netanyahu has cast international criticism of Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza as an \u201cus vs them\u201d moment for the country. He has frequently framed Israel as alone in a hostile world and that he is the only leader strong enough to stand up to the country\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n

After the United Kingdom\u2019s Foreign Minister Ed Miliband described E1 as an \u201cunacceptable and destructive act\u201d, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticised the \u201cpatronising tone\u201d of his statement.<\/p>\n

With the election approaching, the way ministers respond to the E1 project could determine their political futures.<\/p>\n

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been one of the key proponents of E1 and could benefit from an uptick<\/a> in support from right-wing Israelis over the proposed illegal settlement. His Religious Zionist Party is currently unlikely to pass the electoral threshold to even run in this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Smotrich, he\u2019s hyping up everything under his watch ahead of the election,\u201d Israeli analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg told Al Jazeera from Berlin, Germany.<\/p>\n

The fact that the government\u2019s call for tenders to construct E1 falls so close to Israel\u2019s election is not a coincidence, Flaschenberg said. Neither is the dramatic increase in settler violence in the occupied West Bank, where Smotrich has administrative control.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth he and even Netanyahu are benefitting from the outrage. Little of this is accidental,\u201d the analyst added.<\/p>\n

How extensive has this outrage been?<\/p>\n

Condemnation of the E1 settlement has been almost universal. On Friday, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates rejected the E1 settlement, calling<\/a> for \u201cimmediate action to halt the E1 settlement plan\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, 15 European and North American leaders, including those from Israel\u2019s traditional allies the United Kingdom, France and Germany, condemned the settlement.<\/p>\n

In a joint letter<\/a>, they said E1 would \u201cundermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank\u201d. Some have pointed out that their failure to present any penalties if Israel goes ahead with the plan makes their criticism moot.<\/p>\n

The United States has not criticised E1 itself, but did on Friday state its opposition to Israel\u2019s annexation of the West Bank, which the illegal settlement could effectively result in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the president has clearly stated, the US does not support Israel annexing the West Bank. A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration\u2019s goal to achieve peace in the region,\u201d read a statement from the US Department of State.<\/p>\n

So, is this really the end of the two-state solution?<\/p>\n

Announcing plans for construction in August 2025, Smotrich had boasted<\/a> that the new settlement would bury the \u201cidea of a Palestinian state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Given that thousands of Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israel since its occupation of the West Bank began in 1967, some hope the same could happen to the illegal Israeli settlements that replaced them, if the two-state solution becomes a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that this is irreversible is just nonsense. Every time there\u2019s a new illegal settlement, voices in the West say that this is the end of the two-state solution,\u201d Flaschenberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely makes it less likely, but why the end? Every illegal settlement that\u2019s been built can be demolished \u2026 why do we have to accept their presence as fact?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli settlers walk in the Palestinian village of Tal as Israeli soldiers stand guard in the occupied West Bank [File: Ammar Awad\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Political analyst Ori Goldberg noted that the tender for the E1 settlement project came at a time Israel faced further international criticism for bombing an airfield in Syria and described the issuing of the tender as \u201ca deliberate provocation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Is it all smoke and mirrors?<\/p>\n

Thousands<\/a> of Palestinians, most of them Bedouin, have already suffered home demolitions, displacement and restrictions on basic services as Israel expands its road network before construction in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

In April 2026, 23 Palestinians, including 15 children, were displaced from the az-Za\u2019im Bedouin community following demolitions by the Israeli army.<\/p>\n

The UN warns that the planned expansion of Israeli illegal settlements and associated infrastructure threatens to fragment the occupied West Bank and could forcibly displace the 18 Palestinian communities that have lived within the territory Israel now claims for decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Israeli government last week invited bids for the building of more than 1,200 units, a key step…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1166405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[6505,299,13641,837,7424,839,12,54009,26],"class_list":["post-1166404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-europe","tag-explainer","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-occupied-west-bank","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117150007651319501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1166405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}