Israeli attorney general defers bidding deadline for West Bank settlement project

Israel’s attorney general decided on Sunday to push back the deadline for construction bids for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank that has drawn international condemnation.

The E1 plan, approved by Israel last year after decades of being frozen, notably due to pressure from successive US administrations, would further isolate Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

Gali Baharav-Miara’s office announced the decision “to postpone the deadline for submitting bids by one month, so that this date will fall after election day” in order to “reduce concern over the tender being used for election propaganda”.

The tender was initially supposed to open on Monday and be closed on Oct 19, according to a spokeswoman for the attorney general.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is locked in a tight contest as he seeks to stay in power in the Oct 27 ballot.

The approval of new Israeli settlements has soared under Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

Israel’s housing ministry opened a tender for construction of more than 1,200 housing units in the E1 area in July.

Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a leader of the Israeli settler movement, condemned the attorney general’s decision to delay the tenders.

In a video posted on his X account, he accused Baharav-Miara of “interfering in the election campaign” and of “working for Gadi Eisenkot”, Netanyahu’s main rival for the premiership.

The mayor of Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement which is expected to expand into the E1 zone, petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court against the postponement, arguing that the decision itself was political.

“We have waited more than 30 years for E1,” Guy Yifrach said in a statement.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law, in the Palestinian territory among some three million Palestinians.

Six European countries, including the UK and France, called on Israel to halt the E1 project in August.

Earlier this month, an Israeli court rejected a petition from rights groups that had argued the project would lead to the eviction of hundreds of Palestinians.

The court ruled that “adequate legal safeguards are in place” for the development project.

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