Sandego.net – With Israeli voters heading to the polls at the close of October, the country’s Housing Ministry released a tender inviting bids to build more than 1,200 residential units in the E1 corridor near Jerusalem — a move that has drawn sharp condemnation from governments across Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The deadline for submitting construction proposals falls just seven days before the election, a timing that critics describe as a deliberate attempt to lock in a fait accompli before a new government takes office.

The E1 zone sits between East Jerusalem and the main body of the West Bank, a narrow strip of land that has long been treated as a potential seam in any future territorial arrangement. If developed into a continuous chain of Jewish settlements linking East Jerusalem with the West Bank, the corridor would effectively sever the territory into northern and southern halves.…