Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Friday strongly condemned Israel’s plans to advance new settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, warning that the move would further undermine prospects for a two-state solution.
AK Party spokesperson Ömer Çelik said Israel’s planned tenders for new housing units were part of what he described as an effort to “Gazify” the West Bank and dispossess Palestinians.
“We strongly condemn Israel’s plan to launch tenders for new occupier-settler housing construction in another part of the occupied West Bank,” Çelik said in a statement on social media.
He said Israel’s E1 settlement plan represented a “new and dangerous phase,” arguing that its implementation would effectively divide the West Bank and isolate East Jerusalem.
“This aggression aims to effectively split the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem. It also seeks to destroy the prospect of a two-state solution,” Çelik noted.
Çelik also criticized the use of the terms “settlement” and “settler,” describing Israeli settlement activity as occupation and calling on the international community to take coordinated action.
He said that for years President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had drawn attention to Israel’s territorial policies at the United Nations and other international platforms.
Çelik urged countries to take “joint and concrete steps” against Israel’s actions.
Seven Western countries on Thursday also condemned Israel’s decision to issue construction tenders for 1,234 new housing units under the controversial E1 settlement project.
“The Israeli government’s decision to publish construction tenders for the E1 settlement project is unacceptable,” the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway said in a joint statement.
The statement said the international community has long opposed settlement expansion in the area and has repeatedly raised serious concerns with Israel both privately and publicly.
“The E1 settlement would undermine the viability of a two-state solution by dividing the West Bank and damaging the territorial contiguity of Palestinian territory,” it said.
The E1 project, located in the occupied West Bank east of Jerusalem, has long drawn international criticism over concerns that construction in the area would sever links between East Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank.
The seven countries reiterated their opposition to settlement expansion and warned against steps that could further erode the prospects for a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The E1 project was launched to connect the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, built near the Palestinian town of al-Eizariya, to a road leading to West Jerusalem. Al-Eizariya was historically part of East Jerusalem but lies on the West Bank side of Israel’s separation barrier.
As part of the project, Israel seized some 12,000 dunams (about 3,000 acres) of Palestinian land in 1999 for the planned construction of more than 4,000 settlement housing units and hotels.
The E1 project, widely seen as a major obstacle to the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state, had previously been frozen amid pressure from successive U.S. administrations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the E1 project in September 2025, a move that would effectively divide the occupied West Bank into northern and southern sections.
Through the project, Israel seeks to sever territorial links between occupied East Jerusalem and Palestinian areas in the West Bank, further undermining the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state.
The Israeli government recently published the first tender for 1,234 housing units under the E1 project without prior notification to parties that had filed objections, despite an earlier commitment to provide such notice.
