France, Germany, Britain and Italy condemned on Thursday plans by Israel to open up construction tenders for a residential property project called 'E1' in the occupied West Bank. "The decision by the Israeli government to publish bid offers for construction projects within the framework of the E1 settlers' project is unacceptable," said a joint statement by the leaders of those four countries. "At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning," said the statement, urging Israel "to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements in the West Bank." Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled among millions of Palestinians in land captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Nearly all countries and a range of UN bodies consider that such settlements violate international law.
