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448 Former European Officials Urge EU to Sanction Israel Over West Bank Housing Plans
An open letter signed by 448 former diplomats and officials, including Josep Borrell and Guy Verhofstadt, calls for immediate EU action against the E1 project in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli government plans to publish a tender on June 1 for housing up to 15,000 settlers. Settlement expansion reached its highest level in 2025 since tracking began in 2017.
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More than 400 former European diplomats, ministers and senior officials issued an open letter on April 6 urging the European Union to act against Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. The letter, signed by 448 figures including former EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell and former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, called for targeted sanctions such as visa bans and business restrictions on all those engaged in illegal settlement activity.
The signatories focused on the E1 settlement project, which covers around 12 square kilometres with some 3,400 housing units.
The project aims to cut the West Bank in two and would further separate East Jerusalem from the West Bank. East Jerusalem is occupied and annexed by Israel and is predominantly inhabited by Palestinians. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich held a map showing the E1 settlement project during a press conference near the settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 14, 2025.
The Israeli government plans to publish an initial tender on June 1 for the construction of housing for up to 15,000 illegal settlers. "The EU and its member states, together with partners, must take immediate action to deter Israel from further advancing its illegal annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank," the letter stated.
It urged the EU and its member states to act now against those promoting or implementing the E1 scheme.
The signatories described the E1 settlement project as illegal. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's spokesman said the E1 plan would pose an existential threat to a contiguous Palestinian state. Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.
