Israel’s Plan to Build New Settlements Draws Ire from the US

Upon finding out that Israel plans to expand its widely-condemned occupation of the West Bank, the United States Department of the State spokesman John Kirby called the move “the latest step…in a systematic process of land seizures.”

The United States shifting its rhetoric from once being unconditional in its support for Israel, to now questioning one of its oldest and important allies in the world was to be expected. Given the fact that this is not the first time that Israel has plans for increasing the amount of settlements in the West Bank, the United States has quite possibly flirted with the notion that Israel is not serious about negotiating peace with Palestine.

Concerned with the idea of peace talks between Israel and Palestine faltering, the United States has tried to remain impartial despite being staunch allies with Israel.

Since the inception of Obama’s first and second terms, we have seen this mentality employed to an even greater extent as opposed to previous presidents who were even more unwavering in their support for Israel and its policies in the Middle East. With the current administration, however, there does not seem to be any restraint from the White House when condemning what it sees as harmful to stability in the region.

The Associated Press, based off of information received from an Israeli official, says that the settlement plans include building an additional 560 homes right on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is said that 600 more homes will also be built on the Eastern area of Jerusalem as well, bringing the total number of homes to roughly 1200.

Apparent implications for such a plan would include the Palestinians to be less likely to negotiate due to Israel’s repeated attempts to build inside of land demarcated as Palestinian land.

The Palestinians insist that Israel must freeze the expansion of settlement building in order for them to join the peace process.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon also criticized the plan by saying that “this raises legitimate questions about Israel’s long-term intentions, which are compounded by continuing statements of some Israeli ministers calling for the annexation of the West Bank.”

Given the fact that Israeli ministers of Parliament have called for the annexation of the West Bank, in addition to Israel’s expansion of settlements into occupied territories, it is no secret that many are skeptical of Israel’s plans for the future. From a realistic standpoint it does not appear that Israel has any plans to stop the expansion of settlement housing into the West Bank and considering that they hold most of the leverage in negotiations, why would they?

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