Ma’aleh Adumim has petitioned Israel’s High Court to keep the October 19 bid deadline for 1,234 homes in E1, challenging the attorney general’s advice to push it back a month until after the October 27 election. The deadline remains in place.
The attorney general’s legal advisers said the October 19 deadline—eight days before the election—and expected developer selection soon afterward could bring the politically and diplomatically sensitive project into the campaign, although the process predated it. They advised the Israel Land Authority and Housing Ministry to delay the deadline by a month. The municipality says continuing the tender is not a new policy decision and that the opinion does not replace the agencies’ decision-making authority.
The city also seeks an interim order barring the agencies from postponing the deadline based on the opinion while its petition is considered. The High Court set Thursday as the deadline for responses. The petition does not ask the court to decide whether construction is legal; that question is before it in three separate cases brought by Palestinian residents and Ir Amim, Bimkom and Peace Now. A district court earlier declined to freeze planning, and prospective bidders were told tender rights remain subject to the final ruling.
