Israel has opened tenders for the construction of 1,200 settlement homes in a strategic area of the occupied West Bank, known as the E1 area. This move has been internationally condemned, with the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Norway issuing a joint statement calling it "unacceptable" and a violation of Palestinian territorial contiguity.
The development would effectively divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem, according to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog. This would severely impact the viability of a two-state solution, said UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who condemned Israel's actions as "unacceptable and destructive".
Miliband has threatened to impose new targeted sanctions on Israelis involved in settlement expansion, following Labour's hardening stance towards Israel. The Israeli government is trying to sign contracts with contractors before the elections so that it will be harder for the next government to cancel the construction, according to Peace Now.
Israel has built over 160 settlements housing around 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, while an estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. The international community views settlements as illegal under international law, but successive Israeli governments have allowed them to grow.
| Signal | Value | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Correction rate | 0.000 | 0.4 |
| Uncertainty density | 0.108 | 0.25 |
| Assertive mismatch rate | 0.000 | 0.35 |