A coalition of Australian civil society organisations, Amnesty International Australia, the Jewish Council of Australia, the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network, the Medical Association for Prevention of War and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network have joined the Global Sanctions Coalition, calling on Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Wong to act urgently to block Israel’s E1 settlement project in the Occupied West Bank.
As regional tensions escalate amid US-Israel military campaign against Iran, the E1 expansion threatens add to the instability in the Middle East and undermine any pathway to peace for Israel and the Palestinian people.
The project would connect Occupied East Jerusalem with the illegal Ma’ale Adumim Settlement in the Occupied West Bank, carving the West Bank into two disconnected enclaves. The project directly violates international humanitarian law and human rights law by accelerating unlawful settlement expansion and further entrenching Israel’s 76-year brutal occupation. In doing so, it would fuel Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians, recognised as a crime against humanity, and further erode Palestinians’ right to self-determination and justice.
The Australian members of the Global Sanctions Coalition are urging the Australian Government to publicly warn that any person or entity involved in the E1 expansion will face targeted economic sanctions, risking their ability to do any business tied to Australia. They call on the Government to make clear that participation in the project risks loss of access to Australian markets and financial systems, and to be prepared to impose immediate designations should contracts proceed.
The Coalition also urges Australia to advocate for parallel action in allied jurisdictions, particularly the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada. Global Sanctions Coalition partners and endorsers in those jurisdictions are writing in similar terms to their respective governments.
While welcoming Australia’s swift condemnation of settlement expansion, including E1, the Coalition stresses that concrete action is required urgently to prevent irreversible changes on the ground.
If the E1 expansion proceeds, the Global Sanctions Coalition is prepared to support Australia in identifying involved individuals or entities and their sanctionable conduct.
“We welcome that the Government, along with 20 other countries, last year condemned Israel’s moves to illegally annex the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the West Bank. The time has come to act decisively, before that annexation becomes a brutal reality. The Government must move urgently against those directly complicit in Israel’s flagrant breach of international law,” Andrew Witheford, International and Crisis Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia said.
” The Government must move urgently against those directly complicit in Israel’s flagrant breach of international law,”
Andrew Witheford, International and Crisis Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia
BACKGROUND
On August 20, 2025, Israel’s Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration approved the building plan for the E1 project, paving the way to connect Occupied East Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim in the Occupied West Bank. Analysts and civil society organisations have long warned that the project would render a two-state solution obsolete by severing the northern and southern West Bank.
On December 10, 2025, the Israel Land Authority published a tender for 3,401 housing units in the E1 project area. The tenders reportedly offer developers 98-year leasing rights, with an option to extend for a further 98 years. Construction tenders are scheduled to be awarded on March 16, 2026.
Under international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power is prohibited from transferring its civilian population into occupied territory or permanently altering the character of that territory absent absolute military necessity. Israeli settlements, including the E1 project and the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim, contravene these obligations.
Although first proposed in the late 1960s, and revisited between 1990 and 2005, previous attempts to advance the E1 project were halted due to sustained international pressure. Civil society groups warn that the current timeline presents an imminent risk of irreversible consequences for Palestinian territorial continuity and sovereignty once tender bidding closes on March 16.
Australia and allied governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, have previously imposed targeted sanctions in response to settler violence and property destruction in the West Bank. Civil society leaders argue that similarly decisive economic measures are now required to deter further annexation efforts.
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