U.S. Gives Harshest Public Rebuke Yet on Israeli Settlement Plans
Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 01:17PM The U.S. State Department expresses 'deep concern' over plans to build 3,100 new units in the West Bank and opening bids up for over 1,300 further units
by Ben Samuels and Jonathan Lis 26 October 2021 Haaretz
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration on Tuesday strongly condemned Israel's plans to advance housing units in Israeli settlements in its firmest public rebuke of Israeli policy to date.
Senior U.S. officials told Naftali Bennett's office in discreet talks that their concerns mainly relate to the expected construction in the depths of Palestinian territory. The messages were conveyed, among other avenues, from the office of U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
"We are deeply concerned about the Israeli government's plan to advance thousands of settlement units, many of them deep in the West Bank. In addition, we're concerned about the publication of tenders on Sunday for 1,300 settlement units in a number of West Bank settlements," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
"We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm, and it damages the prospects for a two-state solution. We have been consistent and clear in our statements to this effect," Price continued.
The State Department spokesman also added that "we also view plans for the retroactive legalization of illegal outposts as unacceptable. We continue to raise our views on this issue directly with senior Israeli officials in our private discussions."
When pressed on the evolving nature and the harsh rhetoric surrounding the new public messaging, Price noted that "our public messaging on this is consistent with what we are seeing transpire so far. It only stands to reason that our public messaging may shift over time."
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Israel invited bids for the construction of 1,355 housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Sunday, the first time housing units in West Bank settlements have been promoted since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.
For Bennett, U.S. Slamming Settlements Has Some Political Advantages
Bennett and Biden's first confrontation was a mild one, but another public feud between Israel and the United States has fanned the flames
by Jonathan Lis 28 October 2021 Haaretz
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett figured he could give a wink to the Israeli right wing and promote some token construction in the settlements. He initiated a fairly limited move by approving the construction of thousands of housing units there, and cloaked this with a gesture to the Palestinians, including 1,300 building permits, the first time this has happened in a decade. He hoped that his protective vest of left-wing coalition parties would encourage the international community to contain the move, signaling that this was a tax he had to pay to bolster the right wing of his coalition, not a renewed upsurge in settlement expansion.
The U.S. administration was unimpressed and rushed to issue harsh public condemnation. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, warning of the American reaction if these plans were approved. He also dispatched his spokesman Ned Price to express the United States’ objection. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is highly esteemed in Israel, transmitted a harsh message to Bennett in recent days. The American protest cited the intention of building in settlements deep inside Palestinian territory.
Assessments in Jerusalem are that the first dramatic confrontation between U.S. President Joe Biden and Bennett is a limited one, calculated and under control. No one expected such a move to pass quietly by senior Democrats. The fact that at the same time, in an unplanned fashion, another public feud erupted between the two countries over the designation of six Palestinian human rights organizations as terrorist organizations only added fuel to the flames.
In its essence, this is unnecessary friction that’s clouding relations between the two states. But for Bennett, harsh American criticism has some advantages, giving him some political points. On one hand, the combative declarations against settlement construction inflate the significance of the limited step Bennett took, signaling to the right that this must be a major move. On the other hand, the Prime Minister’s Office realizes that similar plans will prove hard to initiate in the future, partly out of concern for the coalition’s integrity. They can now blame the tough U.S. president and the international community.
Last August, on the eve of his meeting with Biden, Bennett gave an extensive interview to The New York Times. “This government will neither annex [land in the territories] nor form a Palestinian state, everyone gets that,” explained the prime minister in describing the clear guidelines of the right-left coalition he had cobbled together. This declaration became his calling card in his meetings with world leaders, as well as a safety net in the face of the international community.
Thus, even though Biden had committed to reopening the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, one that serves the city’s Palestinian population, he decided to postpone this initiative following Israeli pressure. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned during his trip to Washington that such a move, coming before the approval of the budget in Israel, would cause right-wing parties to leave the coalition and lead Israel to a fifth election.
Bennett has never hidden his intention to proceed with limited construction in the settlements. “Israel will continue the standard policy of natural growth,” he clarified in the Times interview, which preceded his successful visit to the White House. A similar message was given by senior officials in his office in conversation with their American counterparts. They noted that the United Arab List, Meretz and Labor would in any case foil any significant move that might upset the status quo.
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The approval of the current plan pales besides construction plans promoted by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Trump administration. On Tuesday, the Israeli Civil Administration governing the West Bank approved the construction of 3,144 housing units, with only 1,344 receiving final approval. The nongovernmental group Peace Now reported a year ago that 2020 was a record year in the promotion of building plans in the settlements. In the first 10 months of 2020, the number of approved housing units stood at 12,159. Ninety-one percent of these were in isolated settlements, which Israel might have to evacuate in some future peace agreement. Peace Now said this was a record number for the preceding two decades.
The significant international pitfalls Bennett will now encounter will play into the hands of the opposition. Lawmaker Miki Zohar (Likud) rushed to warn of the implications for the settlements of a rift with the U.S. “The Biden administration’s declaration against construction in Judea and Samaria should worry us all, especially when there’s a government that depends on the votes of the left and the Islamic Movement,” tweeted Zohar.
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