The number of housing units in West Bank settlements for which tenders have been published this year has reached an all-time yearly high, with tenders for 5,667 units issued so far in 2025. The previous record was set in 2018 when tenders were published for the construction of 3,808 housing units. According to the Peace Now settlement watchdog, the planned housing units will accommodate approximately 25,000 residents once built.
Tenders are published for construction companies to bid on contracts for the construction of housing units and other projects in the West Bank after the planning and approval has been completed. This means that barring some form of political intervention, the construction has already been approved and will go ahead once the tenders are awarded, which can typically take one to two years. The large majority of tenders approved in 2025 were for construction in two West Bank settlement cities: Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and Ariel in the northern West Bank.
In August, the highly controversial E1 project for Maale Adumim was finally approved in the planning process, and the same month tenders were published for the construction of some 3,400 units in the project which are slated to be built on land to the west of the West Bank city. (Ed note: Located in the biblical land of Judea and Samaria, Maale Adumim appears as a landmark for the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. See Joshua 15:7.) (Read More)
