Israel's attorney general orders postponement of E1 settlement tender

Israel’s attorney general has ordered a one-month postponement of an E1 settlement construction tender in the West Bank to avoid it being used for electioneering, Al Jazeera reported. The tender, published on 18 August, covers seven residential compounds containing 1,234 housing units, out of the 3,401 units approved for E1, according to Israeli media. The deadline for bids had been set for 19 October, eight days before the Knesset election. E1 (East 1) would link Ma’ale Adumim and other illegal Israeli settlements to occupied East Jerusalem, effectively severing the West Bank and disrupting Palestinian movement between the northern and southern West Bank, and isolating communities on each side. The European Union has said the E1 settlement project fundamentally undermines the prospects for a two-state solution. It noted that these developments come amid increasing instability in the West Bank and record levels of settler violence.