Philippines Joins International Concern Over Israeli Settlement Plan in West Bank

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has joined a growing number of governments raising alarm over Israel's renewed push to kickstart its E1 settlement plan in the occupied West Bank. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Thursday, September 17, that it noted "with alarm" Israel's efforts to advance its E1 (East 1) settlement plan – long condemned internationally – and "the continued rise of settler violence in the West Bank." It warned that these actions "may contravene international law" and harm efforts to reach "a just, lasting and comprehensive solution to the Middle East conflict." The DFA statement comes a month after Israel opened bidding for 1,234 homes in the area of the E1 settlement project. The United Nations and international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch have flagged how settler attacks on Palestinians are at their highest and most serious on record. E1 is a largely undeveloped stretch of land between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. While there are already thousands of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, critics say the E1 plan would break the link between the northern and southern West Bank and further cut off east Jerusalem from nearby Palestinian communities. The project, according to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will aid Israel in preventing the creation of a Palestinian state, the Jerusalem Post reported. The DFA urged "all parties" to stop unilateral actions that "erode the conditions for peace and undermine the viability of a future Palestinian state." It said the Philippines remains firm in upholding Palestinians' rights, particularly their right to self-determination. Manila's statement follows a joint statement by 22 countries, released on August 20, calling Israel's decision to publish E1 construction tenders "unacceptable." Among nations that signed the joint statement are the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Australia. The signatories said international law is clear that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, a position they said the UN Security Council has reaffirmed. More Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler attacks, demolitions and evictions in the first four months of 2026 than in all of 2025, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The Fourth Geneva Convention bars an occupying power from forcibly transferring people out of occupied territory and from moving its own civilians into it.