Confused about the new tenders in the settlements?
Just as some kind of talks are started in Jordan between Israel and the Palestinians, new tenders for 312 units in East Jerusalem and for another 356 units in the West Bank are published. However the Israeli Government strongly denies, arguing that these tenders are not new.
This confusion is not accidental. It is not the first time Israeli officials react like this after publishing new tenders.In the last two years the Ministry of Housing started to publish lists of upcoming tenders that are planned to be issued in the near future. Those lists are not the official issuing of tenders. Contractors cannot propose their bids according to those lists. Only when a tender is officially published in ads in the newspapers and on the website of the Israel Land Administration or of the Ministry of Housing can one propose a bid.
This way the Government can easily confuse us: when the list is published they may argue that “those tenders are not yet officially issued”, and when there is an official publication of a tender they can claim: “it is not new; we published it already in the past…”
Indeed, on December 18th, the Ministry of Housing published a statement with a list of upcoming tenders, including 1,028 units in settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. In November the Ministry published a list which included another 2,230 units beyond the Green Line. Nonetheless, these were not the official publications. The tenders are issued one by one when they are ready, without an official timeline.
Until now, we have seen the official issuing of tenders for 673 units in West Bank settlements and another 312 units in East Jerusalem. Following is the list of tenders that were really, truly and officially issued by the Government in recent weeks:
Date Tender No. Settlement Units
08/12/2011 YS/363/2011 Efrat (Givat Hadagan) 30
08/12/2011 YS/290/2011 Efrat (Givat Hadagan) 10
08/12/2011 YS/327/2011 Ariel 277
22/12/2011 YS/361/2011 Ma’ale Adumim Trade / Offices
28/12/2011 YS/391/2011 Har Adar 2
28/12/2011 YS/392/2011 Har Adar 5
29/12/2011 YS/356/2011 Efrat (Givat Hazayit) 24
29/12/2011 10017/2011 Efrat (Givat Hazayit) 213
29/12/2011 YS/399/2011 Ma’ale Adumim 40
30/12/2011 YS/397/2011 Har Adar 72
28/12/2011 JM/341/2011 Pisgat Zeev 47 Republication of tenders that weren’t sold
28/12/2011 JM/342/2011 Har Homa B 117
28/12/2011 JM/343/2011 Har Homa B 130 Retirement home, Republication of tenders that weren’t sold
28/12/2011 10016/2011 Pisgat Zeev 18