LONDON: Israeli authorities demolished nearly half of a Palestinian Bedouin community in an area designated for the controversial E1 project in the east of occupied Jerusalem, displacing about 20 residents and threatening the rest with eviction, three Israeli rights groups warned on Thursday. In a joint statement, Ir Amim, Bimkom and Peace Now said that Israeli forces demolished four residential compounds in Bir Al-Maskub on Tuesday, including homes, kitchens and sanitation facilities, in an area designated for the controversial E1 settlement project. Demolition orders dating back to 2008 were also renewed for all remaining structures, placing the entire community at risk of displacement. The rights organizations said that the demolitions were the first known to target Bedouin communities within the E1 area, raising concerns that other Palestinian communities could face similar demolitions. They warned that the operation marked “a significant shift from planning and bureaucratic procedures to implementing concrete measures on the ground,” marking the beginning of a broader campaign to remove Palestinian Bedouin communities from land designated for settlement expansion, despite ongoing legal challenges to the project. The E1 project involves constructing 3,401 settlement housing units between occupied East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. Critics say that it would sever Palestinian territorial links between the northern and southern West Bank and undermine the prospects for a viable Palestinian state. “The demolished structures are located more than one kilometer from Ma’ale Adumim’s residential areas, undermining any Israeli claims that the demolitions could be potentially motivated by ‘local planning needs’,” the joint statement from the Israeli rights group read. The E1 settlement project has drawn widespread international condemnation. In August, more than 20 countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Canada and Australia, urged Israel to abandon the plans and warned businesses against participating in construction tenders. In September, Britain, France and Canada announced plans to restrict trade in goods from Israeli settlements and introduce targeted measures against those facilitating settlement expansion. On Oct. 9, 2025, Israeli rights groups Bimkom, Ir Amim and Peace Now, alongside Palestinian residents, filed a petition with the Jerusalem District Court seeking to overturn the approval of the E1 settlement project. The petition remains pending after the court rejected a request to suspend the construction tender in September 2026. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Bir Al-Maskub demolitions on Thursday, warning that they marked a dangerous transition from planning to implementing the E1 project on occupied Palestinian land. “The move could signal an expansion of demolition operations targeting other Palestinian Bedouin communities across the area,” the ministry said. It accused Israel’s outgoing government of exploiting the political transition following last month’s election to accelerate settlement construction and impose irreversible changes on the ground. The ministry said that the measures violated international law and threatened to fragment the West Bank, isolate East Jerusalem and undermine the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. It called on the international community, particularly the US administration, to intervene immediately to halt the demolitions and prevent the displacement of other Bedouin communities. The demolitions come as Israel continues advancing construction tenders for the E1 project, despite delays to parts of the bidding process. A tender covering 1,234 housing units closed for bids on Oct. 19, although the review of submissions was postponed until Nov. 19 following a directive by Israel’s attorney general intended to prevent the process from being used for election campaigning, according to the rights groups. Meanwhile, Israel has postponed the opening of bidding for the remaining 2,167 units until Dec. 1, with the submission deadline extended to Dec. 28, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. The commission stressed that the revised timetable did not constitute a cancellation of the project, with all 3,401 planned housing units still covered by the two tenders. The rights groups said that the latest demolitions suggested that steps toward implementing E1 were already underway, despite the tender delays and pending legal challenges. Separately, Israeli authorities announced two new tenders for 91 settlement housing units in Oranit, built on land in the Qalqilya governorate in the occupied West Bank. The commission said that the tenders included 86 apartments in multi-story buildings and five units in low-rise developments, spread across seven residential complexes. Bidding for the two projects is scheduled to open in mid-November, with deadlines in late December.