The warning by the new man in the White House that new Israeli settlement activity could potentially hamper the peace process is a new and welcomed stance by President Donald Trump.
It is a major shift by the new US administration that has shown almost blind adamancy in its support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But there is a caveat: the White House said it had not taken an official position on Israeli settlements, saying it would wait until Trump meets with Netanyahu later this month to formally develop a position.
Still, it is better than nothing and certainly much better than what has been happening thus far, which has been a settlement drive gone wild. On the same day that Israeli forces cleared Amona, the illegal outpost built on private Palestinian-owned land near Ramallah in the West Bank, Israel announced it would build a new settlement in the West Bank, the first of its kind in 20 years, as it differs from other construction in which units were added to existing settlements.
That was just for starters. Days earlier, the Israeli government approved plans to build 3,000 new homes at settlements in the West Bank. In fact, in the first two weeks of Trump’s term, Netanyahu announced plans for 5,500 housing units in the West Bank all together, while the municipality of Jerusalem has advanced plans for about 550 new homes in East Jerusalem. So, the price to be paid by the Palestinians for the evacuation of one Israeli outpost is an avalanche of new settlement construction.
It is no coincidence that this sudden settlement rush comes just as the Amona outpost saw its last days before being dismantled. It was as if the Israeli government was determined to build 1,000 new settlements for every single one it has lost. It is also clear that Trump’s marked departure from the Israel policy of predecessor Barack Obama has buoyed the Netanyahu administration’s desire to settle everywhere and anywhere.
It is striking that the State Department under Trump made no comment following these recent announcements by Israel of new settlement housing. Under previous administrations, the State Department would routinely issue sharp criticism of any plans to expand settlements and demand a freeze on construction. These days, though, Netanyahu has been acting as if he had a free pass. Last week’s announcement of the 3,000 new homes came just days after Trump’s inauguration and marks one of the largest settlement expansions since 2013. With the Trump administration seemingly applauding on the sidelines, Netanyahu was emboldened enough to tell the Knesset that the expansion was just a “first taste”.
Israel’s announcement of this flood of additional settlement homes is also seen as an attempt by Netanyahu to appease his right-wing base. With Trump in office, Netanyahu has been under pressure from his right-wing coalition partners to accelerate settlement construction.
Israel also reacted angrily to the recent US abstention in a UN vote on Israeli settlement activities, the resolution Netanyahu made clear Israel would not abide by.
The new construction also comes weeks after a peace conference in Paris that called for Israel and the Palestinians to embrace a two-state solution and find their way back to the negotiating table, but which Netanyahu called “useless”.
Netanyahu has been exploiting the new American administration to prevent the coming of a Palestinian state by using a settlement deluge. Since his entrance into the Oval Office, Trump has given more than just a hint that he will be more sympathetic to settlement construction than his predecessor. However, Trump’s latest pronouncement, that the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving peace, has put a spoke in the wheels of Netanyahu’s settlement creating machine.
