The Netherlands has joined six other countries in condemning Israel’s decision to open construction bids for the E1 settlement in the occupied West Bank.
As RTL Nieuws reports, Israel has opened a tender for more than 1,200 homes in the E1 area, intended for Israeli settlers.
The Netherlands has now signed a joint statement alongside France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Canada calling the move “unacceptable”.
Israeli settlements in the area are illegal, co-signees write
The statement asserts that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law — a position they note has been “reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council”.
All seven signatories urge Israel to retract their plans immediately and “end its expansion of settlements in the West Bank”. Pressing ahead, they claim, would only drive the region further from peace and “further undermine Israel’s international standing”.
Dutch PM Rob Jetten framed the Netherlands’ decision to co-sign as a result of increased violence by settlers, in a post on X:
De situatie op de Westelijke Jordaanoever verslechtert verder. Het geweld door kolonisten neemt toe en de economie komt daar steeds verder onder druk te staan.
— Rob Jetten (@MinPres) August 20, 2026
Dat moet stoppen. Daarom roept Nederland samen met internationale partners Israël op om de uitbreiding van illegale… pic.twitter.com/6MNJ347w6C
“This must stop,” he writes, urging Israel to “reverse the plans for the controversial E1 project”.
Why is the E1 so controversial?
According to the BBC, the E1 zone refers to a stretch of land roughly 12km between East Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.
Should the Israeli construction plan move ahead, it would see 3,401 homes built for settlers. As of August 21, 1,234 of these tenders have already been issued for developers to bid on.
However, the real issue is location.
As stated by Peace Now, an Israeli organisation “advocating for peace through public pressure”, construction in the area would fundamentally alter “the geographic and strategic character of the area by severing the northern West Bank from the south and isolating East Jerusalem”.
In addition, the organisation stresses that the move would “ruin the possibility of reaching an end to the conflict and a peace arrangement based on two states”.
And the timeline, they assert, is no coincidence, either. By attempting to sign contracts with developers before Israeli elections kick off, the move would make it “much harder for the next government to cancel the construction”.
This isn’t the first Dutch objection to the E1
Back in May, the Netherlands and eight other countries warned companies not to bid for tenders in the E1 construction project.
In a joint statement, they argued that developing the E1 would divide the West Bank into two, marking a serious breach of international law.
Israel, however, has charged full steam ahead with their plans and opened bidding for construction projects in the zone. Companies have until October 19, 2026, to submit an offer — one week before Israeli elections on October 27.
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