Amman, May 6 (Petra) – More than 400 former European ministers, ambassadors, and officials, in an open letter to EU leaders, on Wednesday called for prompt action to halt Israel's "illegal annexation" of the occupied West Bank through the "E1" project under which thousands of settlement housing units will be built.

The letter was signed by 448 prominent European figures, including former European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, according to the German Press Agency (dpa).

The signatories stressed that the European Union and member states, in cooperation with their partners, are required to take urgent steps to deter Israel from continuing its illegal annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank.

In August 2025, Israel approved the E1 project, which will divide the West Bank into two separate sections, posing a direct threat to the territorial contiguity of any future Palestinian state.

In December of the same year, Israel issued a tender for construction of about 3,400 housing units on an area of 12 square kilometers east of Jerusalem.

The signatories stated that the Israeli government intends to issue detailed tenders for the development of the area under the project on June 1st, urging the EU to take prompt action, particularly during the Foreign Affairs Council meeting scheduled for May 11.

The signatories demanded targeted sanctions at the minimum, including visa bans on individuals involved in settlement activity, and preventing them from business activities within the European Union, especially those who support or participate in the tenders or implement the E1 project.

The pace of settlement expansion has been stepped up under the current Israeli government, which greenlighted building 54 settlements in 2025, a figure the Peace Now leftist group called "a record". The far-right government has endorsed more than 100 settlements since taking office in 2022.

//Petra//SS