Creating more facts on the ground, even if someday the houses might be traded to the Palestinians for a real peace treaty — not that the smart money is placing any bets that the Palestinians suddenly choose common sense.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli authorities advance plans for some 5,700 new settlement homes, shattering in just six months the record for most West Bank housing units for Israelis greenlit in a single year.The 13,056 homes that have now been advanced through a pair of major planning stages thus far in 2023 surpasses the previous record of 12,159 homes, which were greenlit in 2020 when Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...was US president and his administration proposed a peace plan that envisioned Israel annexing all of its West Bank settlements.
The number of homes advanced today is also more than the 4,427 advanced in all of 2022, when a more moderate unity government was in power that was more willing to heed to the Biden administration’s warnings against further entrenching Israel’s presence in the West Bank.
US ‘deeply troubled’ by latest Israeli settlement approvals
| The Biden administration yet again speaks loudly and carries a wet noodle. |
Miller does not appear to have a new statement prepared on the latest development; instead, he says, "I will reiterate our longstanding position which we have said publicly from this podium. Privately, we say this directly to Israeli officials — that we believe that settlements are an impediment to a negotiated two-state solution along 1967 lines, which ultimately we believe is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict."
Pressed again for comment, Miller repeats the statement that his office issued last week when Israel announced that it would be making the settlement construction advancements.
Miller says the US is "deeply troubled" by the moves and "opposes such unilateral actions that make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve."