The relations between the US and Israel have been strained over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have been a source of controversy and conflict for decades.
The West Bank, which is home to about 2.8 million Palestinians and 450,000 Israeli settlers, is a territory that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, and that the Palestinians claim as part of their future state, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The international community, including the US, considers the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law, and as an obstacle to the peace process and the two-state solution, which envisions the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
However, Israel considers the West Bank as part of its historic and biblical homeland, and as a vital security and strategic asset, and has continued to expand and consolidate its settlements in the territory, despite the opposition and the pressure from the US and other countries.
The issue of the settlements has been a thorn in the relations between the US and Israel, which are close allies and partners, but have often clashed over the matter.
Apart from a brief period during the Trump administration, which adopted a pro-Israel stance and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the legality of the settlements, the US has consistently opposed and criticized the Israeli settlement policy, and has urged Israel to halt or limit its construction activities in the West Bank.
The tensions between the US and Israel over the settlements have escalated in recent days, following a deadly attack by a Palestinian gunman in a contested area on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and the subsequent announcement by the Israeli government of the construction of over 3,000 housing units in the West Bank.
On Thursday, a Palestinian man opened fire at a bus stop near the Israeli settlement of Ofra, killing one Israeli civilian and wounding several others, before being shot dead by Israeli security forces.
The attack, which was claimed by the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, was the latest in a series of violent incidents that have erupted in the West Bank and Jerusalem in the past few weeks, amid the rising tensions and the frustration over the stalled peace process and the deteriorating living conditions of the Palestinians.
The immediate response by the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a hardline nationalist and a supporter of the settlements, was to announce the approval of over 3,000 housing units in the West Bank, in what it said was a measure to strengthen the security and the sovereignty of Israel, and to deter further attacks by the Palestinians.
The decision, which was welcomed by the Israeli settler movement and the right-wing parties, was condemned by the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, and by the international community, which warned that it would undermine the prospects of peace and the viability of the two-state solution.
Hours later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “disappointed” by the Israeli decision, saying, “Settlements are counter-productive to reaching an enduring peace (and) inconsistent with international law.”
Blinken, who spoke by phone with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a centrist and a moderate partner in the coalition government, said that the US remained committed to the two-state solution, and that it expected Israel to refrain from unilateral actions that could jeopardize the peace process.
Blinken also said that the US condemned the attack by the Palestinian gunman, and that it supported Israel’s right to self-defense, and that it called for calm and restraint from both sides.
A Reversal
Blinken’s statement was a reversal of the Trump administration’s view in 2019, which did not consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank as inconsistent with international law, and which gave a green light to Israel to expand and annex its settlements in the territory.
The Biden administration, which took office in January, has adopted a more balanced and nuanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has sought to restore the US role as a mediator and a broker of peace in the region.
The Biden administration has also resumed the US aid to the Palestinians, which was cut off by the Trump administration, and has reopened the US consulate in Jerusalem, which serves as a diplomatic channel to the Palestinians, and which was closed by the Trump administration.
The Biden administration has also expressed its support for the resumption of the direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which have been frozen since 2014, and which have been overshadowed by the war in Gaza, the political turmoil in Israel, and the pandemic.
However, the Biden administration has also faced challenges and criticism from both sides, as well as from the US Congress and the public, over its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its ability and willingness to exert pressure and influence on the parties to achieve a breakthrough and a lasting peace.
