Multiple human rights non-profit organisations are calling on EU Member States to take strong action addressing Israeli plans to build settlements in the E1 area before 6 July.
NGO umbrella organisation 11.11.11 has also addressed Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés), urging him to "take decisive action now with a national sanctions mechanism."
In a letter sent on Thursday, addressing European Foreign Ministers, the NGOs stress that Israel's settlement plans render the possible future Palestinian state impossible.
Recently, a new round of sanctions against Israeli settlers was launched at the European level. "But that approach remains too limited," wrote 11.11.11, criticising the bloc for a lack of sanctions against the structures helping to determine the situation on the ground.
"Concrete and decisive action" is needed to strike at "the foundations of the Israeli occupation" in the West Bank, the organisations said.
For 11.11.11, this means the establishment of a national sanctions mechanism for Member States to take further measures independently.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot pictured at a diplomatic meeting in Brussels, on Tuesday 31 March 2026. Credit: Elias Rom/Belga
Early in 2026, Belgium's governing coalition's party, CD&V, submitted a legislative proposal for this purpose.
But these actions must be taken before 6 July, as the tender procedure for the E1 project ends on that day. For the human rights organisations, that is "the last realistic moment for the international community to stop the project."
According to the organisations involved, the settlements, planned in the area of approximately 12 km² between East Jerusalem, will geographically cut the West Bank in half and surround East Jerusalem — the envisioned capital of a future Palestinian state — isolating it from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Some 3,400 Israeli homes are to be built in that area, "including new segregated traffic infrastructure."
Under international law, the Israeli settlements are illegal, but there is no "consistent policy within the European Union to effectively reduce economic and institutional involvement in that system," they added.
In the House Committee on Home Affairs on Wednesday, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) stated that European sanctions against Israel will likely "never happen," citing deep divisions among Member States.
"There is a deep, deep division there. You can regret that, but those are the facts. And then you are left with only fairly limited packages of things that you can decide nationally," the Belgian PM added.
