Administration officials said on Monday they were \u201ctroubled\u201d and \u201cconcerned\u201d by Israel\u2019s settlement advancements over the weekend \u2014 the first sign of outward friction between the U.S. and Israel\u2019s new far-right government.
\n\u201cWe are deeply troubled by Israel\u2019s announcement that it will reportedly advance thousands of settlements and begin a process to retroactively legalize nine outposts in the West Bank that were previously illegal under Israeli law,\u201d State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing on Monday. \u201cLike previous administrations, we strongly oppose these unilateral measures, which exacerbate tensions, harm trusts between the parties, and undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution.\u201d
\nJohn Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator, also said his team was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d regarding the settlement decision in Israel, during a White House press briefing on Monday afternoon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his concern in a statement prior to his department\u2019s briefing.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel agreed to legalize nine settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, The Associated Press reported. This action goes against the United States\u2019 strong opposition to \u201cany unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions,\u201d Price said during the State Department briefing.
\nThe Israeli leadership under Netanyahu has faced criticism from some who say the far-right policies are racist or misogynistic. During Netanyahu\u2019s attempt to return to power last year, after being ousted in the previous election, he tapped into far-right extremist coalitions to gain support \u2014\u2002coalitions now represented in the new Israeli government.
\nThe U.S. has tread lightly in addressing the new coalition government, while also keeping its ties with a historic ally. Blinken previously met with Netanyahu two weeks ago during a two-day trip.
\nHowever, the U.S. State Department\u2019s vocal opposition should be \u201cno surprise,\u201d Price said.
\n\u201cDuring his recent trip to Israel, Secretary Blinken was clear: that all parties should refrain from actions that heighten tensions and take us further away from peace,\u201d Price said. \u201cIsrael\u2019s decision on settlements and outposts runs directly contrary to those objectives.\u201d
\nPrice said the State Department was now having \u201cintensive discussions with the parties, including Israel.\u201d These discussions are bilateral and multilateral, he said.
\n\u201cWhen we were there, before we were there, after we were there, last week, again today, our message on this has been clear and consistent,\u201d Price said. \u201cWe oppose any unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Politico<\/p>\n
Tags\uff1aUS, Outpost, Israel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Administration officials said on Monday they were \u201ctroubled\u201d and \u201cconcerned\u201d by Israel\u2019s settlement advancements over the weekend \u2014 the first sign of outward friction between the U.S. and Israel\u2019s new far-right government. \u201cWe are deeply troubled by Israel\u2019s announcement that it will reportedly advance thousands of settlements and begin a process to retroactively legalize nine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1153],"tags":[1200,1239,2434],"class_list":["post-5800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military","tag-deeply","tag-israel","tag-troubled"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5802,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions\/5802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}