The European Union (EU) is preparing an initial package of sanctions against Israel if construction proceeds in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, Channel 13 News reported Thursday.
Two Western diplomats cited in the report said the EU has already drawn up a list of potential measures, with the United States not opposed to the steps under consideration.
The reported measures could include labeling Israeli products, including those produced outside Judea and Samaria, reducing academic cooperation, and suspending certain security and diplomatic partnerships.
The development follows an Israeli government tender issued Tuesday for seven residential compounds containing 1,234 housing units in E1. The units are part of roughly 3,400 homes approved for the area last August.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband criticized the tender on Wednesday and called for its withdrawal.
"This Israeli Government’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement project is an unacceptable and destructive act. E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution," Miliband said in a statement condemning the move.
"The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law," he claimed.
Miliband said he had spoken with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar about the issue and that Britain's Foreign Office had summoned Israel's Chargé d'Affaires.
"Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal," said Miliband.
He also said Britain was preparing additional measures in response to Israeli government policies.
"Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution. In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians," the UK Foreign Secretary declared.
Sa'ar rejected Miliband's demands on Thursday, sharply criticizing both the substance and tone of the British statement.
"I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronizing tone of his words," Sa'ar wrote on social media.
"The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognized the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel - including in the area in question."
Sa'ar also accused Britain of hypocrisy over its criticism of Israeli construction.
"Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history."
He further disputed the characterization of the tender as a new decision.
"There have been no new decisions regarding development in E1. The decision was made in 2025. The tender process has been underway for several months, with certain tender documents published only in recent days. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement is entirely one-sided."
Later Thursday, Britain joined France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway in a joint condemnation of the Israeli tender.
The seven countries called the construction plans "unacceptable" and urged Israel to withdraw them immediately, saying they had repeatedly expressed opposition to the expansion of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.
"The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories," the statement said.
The countries also repeated their position that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria violate international law, referring to what they described as a longstanding international position reaffirmed by the UN Security Council.
"We urge the Government of Israel to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements," the statement said.
The seven governments warned that continued construction would further damage prospects for peace and Israel's international standing.
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