Americas

US says opposes Israel’s settlement expansion in West Bank

The administration of US President Joe Biden “strongly opposes” plans by Israel to expand settlements in the West Bank, State Department spokesperson Ned Price says. The US is known as Israel’s staunch supporter.

The Biden administration has voiced opposition to settlement expansion plans by Israel in the West Bank, saying that they damage “the prospects for a two-state solution” in a rare criticism of its Israeli allies.

Price on Tuesday unambiguously rejected Israel’s recent push to build more settlements in the West Bank. He also criticised efforts to retroactively legalise irregular settlement outposts in the Palestinian territory.

“We are deeply concerned about the Israeli government’s plan to advance thousands of settlement units tomorrow, Wednesday, many of them deep in the West Bank,” Price added.

“In addition, we’re concerned about the publication of tenders on Sunday for 1,300 settlement units in a number of West Bank settlements. We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm,” he continued.

But asked whether Israel will face repercussions from the US administration over the plan, Price was non-committal.

“These are concerns that we have discussed at very senior levels, at the most senior levels, with our Israeli partners,” he said, adding, “Our Israeli partners know where we stand, and we’ll continue to engage with them in our diplomacy on this.”

On Monday, the United Nations also expressed concern about the Israeli announcement, saying that “all settlements are illegal under international law”.

Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war. Since then, it has occupied the land and been building settlements exclusive to Israeli citizens in the territory in what critics call a clear violation of the Geneva Convention.

In a report to the UN Human Rights Council in July, UN expert Michael Lynk concluded that the Israeli settlements amount to a war crime. In 2016, the UN Security Council condemned the settlements in a resolution that said they have “no legal validity”.

Since coming into office in January, Biden and his top aides have been reluctant to criticise Israel in public, other than issuing general warnings against steps that they say harm the two state-solution.

Biden has also rejected some US progressives’ calls to condition US aid to Israel, repeatedly stressing that his administration’s commitment to Israel’s security is “ironclad”.

Price’s comments on Tuesday came as Congress was expected to approve $1bn in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, additionally to the $3.8bn Israel gets annually in military assistance. Biden has signalled support for the new funding.

Tensions between the Biden administration and the Israeli government appeared to emerge late last week after Israel designated six Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organisations”.

“We believe respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are critically important to responsible and responsive governance,” Price stated on Friday when asked about the designation.

IFP Media Wire

Reports and views published in the Media Wire section have been retrieved from other news agencies and websites, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website. The IFP may change the headlines of the reports in a bid to make them compatible with its own style of covering Iran News, and does not make any changes to the content. The source and URL of all reports and news stories are mentioned at the bottom of each article.

Recent Posts

Historic all-Women flight lands in Mashhad

For the first time in Iran's aviation history, a flight carrying an all-female crew and…

8 hours ago

Tehran Cyber Police shut down 40 Instagram accounts of harassers

Tehran’s Cyber Police Chief, Brigadier General Davood Moazzami Goudarzi, announced a crackdown on individuals causing…

10 hours ago

Qatar warns may stop gas shipments to EU amid Russia-Ukraine war

Doha will stop gas shipments to the EU if member states enforce new legislation on…

10 hours ago

UK armed forces struggling for recruits: Telegraph

At least 15,000 British soldiers left the country's Armed Forces between November 2023 and October…

10 hours ago

Nearly 85k Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine: Report

Journalists have identified the names of 84,761 Russian soldiers who died during the war in…

14 hours ago

US downs own warplane while bombing Yemen: Pentagon

The United States Navy has inadvertently shot down its own F/A-18 fighter jet in a…

14 hours ago