European nations condemn major Israeli settlement plans in West Bank

France, Italy, Britain, and Germany issued a rare joint condemnation of Israel's major settlement project in the occupied West Bank, urging the government to immediately retract its plans. The E1 development, a decades-old project revived amid the war with Hamas, aims to build 3,401 homes and a new road on the outskirts of Jerusalem. This expansion would displace the local Bedouin community and, according to researchers, would effectively split the West Bank in two, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. The joint statement from the European powers highlighted the grave instability and unprecedented settler violence in the West Bank, calling the decision to open construction tenders "even more concerning." However, Israeli Minister Gideon Saar publicly rejected the condemnation on social media, calling the tone "patronizing" and asserting the Jewish people's right to live in the Land of Israel. Far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated the E1 development would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state.

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At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning.