West Bank: Illegal E1 Settlement Tender Opens for Bids

Click to expand Image Activists rally in support of the Bedouin communities of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank, June 12, 2026. © 2026 AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean (Beirut) – The Israeli government on August 18, 2026, opened a new tender for the construction of 1,234 housing units in the illegal E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, about a third of the 3,401 housing units approved for construction, Human Rights Watch said today. The government set a deadline for bids just days before Israel’s October 27 elections. The E1 settlement would deliberately fragment the occupied West Bank by severing its northern part from its southern part, forcibly displace over 18 Bedouin communities, and further entrench apartheid. Businesses submitting a bid risk complicity in human rights abuses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and open themselves to legal and reputational consequences. “Behind housing units in E1 are Palestinian families facing displacement. Companies bidding to build those houses are bidding on complicity in a war crime,” said Sarah Sanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Other countries have a duty to prevent companies under th