Controversial construction project on the West Bank put to tender

The procurement, where developers can submit bids, paves the way for the start of construction of the controversial so-called E1 settlement.

According to Yoni Mizrahi at the Israeli peace organization Peace Now, work could begin within a month.

The project is particularly controversial because it extends from the outskirts of Jerusalem far into the occupied West Bank. The international community largely considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk warns on Wednesday of a "systematic stifling of Palestinian rights in the West Bank."

“It creates a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before,” Türk says in a report.