More Than 400 Former Diplomats Urge EU To Act Against Israel’s E1 West Bank Settlement Project

More than 400 former diplomats, ministers, and senior officials urged the European Union to “act now” against Israel’s “illegal” settlements in the occupied West Bank, focusing on Israel’s E1 project. The open letter says Israel intends to move forward with E1, a new construction project covering around 12 square kilometers with some 3,400 housing units, and that the move would further separate east Jerusalem from the West Bank. It adds that the Israeli government plans to publish an initial tender on June 1 for housing for up to 15,000 “illegal settlers,” and that the plan is condemned by international leaders, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman calling it an “existential threat.” The letter’s signatories include former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, and they call for targeted sanctions such as visa bans and business restrictions on “all those engaged in illegal settlement activity.”

“More than 400 European ministers, ambassadors and former officials signed an open letter addressed on Wednesday to EU leaders in Brussels, calling for 'immediate action' to stop what they described as the 'illegal annexation' carried out by Israel in the occupied West Bank through the E1 project, which it plans to use to build thousands of housing units”

Al-Jazeera Net

The same appeal, published May 6, 2026, says the European Union and its member states “must take immediate steps to deter Israel from continuing its illegal annexation” through the E1 project, and it frames the effort around an upcoming Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 11thMay. The signatories, numbering 448, include Josep Borrell and Guy Verhofstadt, and they say the Israeli government intends on 1stJune to launch detailed tenders for the development of the E1 project area. The letter also calls for targeted sanctions, including visa restrictions and bans on doing business with individuals and entities involved in settlement activity, ranging from politicians and local authorities to developers and financial institutions. In parallel, the Le Monde account says the signatories argue that the EU must, at minimum, impose targeted sanctions including visa bans and “the prohibition of engaging in business activities in the EU,” targeting people involved in illegal settlement activities tied to E1.

The open letter’s argument is that E1 would divide the occupied West Bank into two parts, threatening any geographical connection to a future Palestinian state, and it links that outcome to the broader risk of further entrenching Israeli control. It says Israel approved Project E1 in August 2025 and that in December Israel issued a tender to build 3,400 housing units across an area of 12 square kilometres east of Jerusalem. It also situates the push within a wider pattern of settlement expansion, noting that in 2025 expansion reached its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data, according to a UN report. The letter’s signatories warn that the EU’s response is needed before June 1, when the Israeli government intends to publish detailed bid invitations to develop the E1 zone, and they urge “act now” to deter further illegal annexation.

“Signatories, at a minimum, called for targeted sanctions on individuals linked to settlement activity, including banning them from entering the European Union and prohibiting their participation in economic activities within the bloc, especially those involved in implementing the 'E1' project or its supporters”

Euronews