Top Legal Official Reverses Course on E1 Housing Tender

Israel's Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, has reversed her earlier decision to halt a construction tender for 1,234 housing units in the E1 area, located between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. The reversal comes after the Ma'ale Adumim municipality petitioned the High Court of Justice and faced significant public criticism.

Initially, Baharav-Miara had instructed that the tender process be postponed until after the upcoming elections, citing concerns about the timing during an election period. However, following the municipality's legal challenge and public outcry, she announced that the tender process and its deadlines would proceed as originally scheduled, allowing contractors to submit their bids.

The municipality argued in its petition that the Attorney General's intervention, rather than the tender itself, was what altered the status quo for political reasons. They pointed out that the plan to advance construction in E1 was approved in 2025, the political approval for the tender was granted in December of that year, and the tender was published last August, indicating it was a long-standing process, not a new decision made just before elections.

Baharav-Miara's revised stance now requests only that the bids not be opened and the winning contractor not be announced until after the elections. This development follows a recent decision by the Jerusalem District Court, which also found no justification to halt the E1 construction tender, stating that continuing the process at this stage does not create an irreversible situation.