Middle Eastern and Muslim Nations Oppose Israel’s Controversial E1 Settlement Plan
Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab and Muslim countries warned Friday that Israeli plans to build settlement homes in a highly sensitive area of the occupied West Bank threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state.
The warning follows a tender issued Tuesday by Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units in the E1 area east of Jerusalem. Building Jewish settlements on that land would effectively split the West Bank in two, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible, while also severing the West Bank from East Jerusalem — territory Palestinians envision as their future capital.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Qatar, and Egypt expressed their complete rejection of the E1 plan and called for it to be halted immediately. They described the project as a dangerous escalation that would further settlement expansion and annexation while undermining the territorial contiguity of Palestinian land, particularly between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The ministers said the plan threatens the possibility of an independent, contiguous, and viable Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The broader E1 development, which includes plans for 3,400 homes across a 12-square-kilometer parcel of land, was approved by Israel last year. At the time, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the plan posed an existential threat to the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state. This week’s tender covering 1,234 of those homes has since drawn condemnation from European governments, Palestinian officials, and Israeli rights groups as well.
The Arab and Muslim nations’ statement also framed the plan as a direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s broader peace initiative for Israel and Palestine, launched last year to help end the war in Gaza, arguing that it undermines Trump’s stated commitment to preventing West Bank annexation as part of achieving regional stability.
The statement went further, unequivocally condemning Israel’s other settlement policies in the territory along with violence committed by settlers against Palestinians and their property. The ministers called for international sanctions targeting individuals and entities responsible for illegal settlement activity, as well as those providing financial or logistical support for it.
