The United States threatened to hold Israel accountable for West Bank settlement expansion, as the IDF’s Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria was set to advanced plans for 5,300 new settler homes in that region.
“Unilateral actions like settlement expansion and legalization of outposts, they are detrimental to a two-state solution,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told repeaters in Washington.
“So we’ll continue to use the tools at our disposal to expose and promote accountability for those who threaten peace and stability in the region,” he stated.
“We view the expansion of settlements as – and outposts as inconsistent with international law, and again, we view these as something that only serves to weaken Israel’s security,” Patel said.
He spoke in advance of the Higher Planning Council’s meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to advance those plans, some of which would lead to the legalization of four outposts.
In addition, 500 settler homes will also be marketed this week.
Cabinet also approves transformation of five outposts into settlements
The advancement of plans for 5,300 new settler homes was part of a Security Cabinet decision which also included the transformation of five outposts in new settlements, one settlement for each of the five European countries that unilaterally recognized Palestinian statehood in the last few months.
These five outposts were in addition to the four outposts, which will be debated by the Higher Planning Council during their two-day meeting.
The Security Cabinet agreed to move on the issue of settlement expansion as part of the deal by which Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich would release three months of tax fees he had withheld from the Palestinian Authority.
He also agreed to extend by four months an arrangement that allows for Palestinian banks to operate.
The United States and European countries had pressed Smotrich to take these steps.
Patel acknowledged the two moves, but said, that they did not go far enough. Extending the banking arrangement and transferring tax fees are steps that should happen automatically, he explained.
“Our view is that ultimately these are – these are Palestinian Authority funds. These are funds that belong to the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
“We, of course, welcome reports that Israel will extend the correspondent banking relationship for four months and release a portion of the PA’s clearance revenues.
“But our call is for Israel to extend correspondent banking for at least 12 months and to release the rest of the withheld clearance revenues as well.
“It’s important to remember that the viability of the Palestinian Authority is essential to stability in the West Bank, which in turn is essential to Israel’s own security interests as well. We have made these concerns clear to our partners in Israel at the highest level, and we’ll continue to engage with them on this issue,” Patel stated.
The ratcheting up of tensions over the Israeli government’s support for West Bank settlements comes as the US is pushing for the revival of a Saudi normalization deal with Israel which would include a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has opposed Palestinian statehood but has otherwise supported a Saudi deal.
Smotrich has been among the more vocal opponents of Palestinian statehood. He stressed on Wednesday that the settlement expansion was a direct attempt to thwart such statehood in the West Bank, which he refers to as Judea and Samaria.
“We are building and developing the settlement – and thwarting the danger of a Palestinian state,” he said.
“Last week we brought five settlements in strategic areas to the cabinet for approval, including the settlement of Evyatar, and to this, we are adding approval for thousands of housing units as well as tens of thousands of dunams of declarations of state lands.
“This is an integrated and massive action whose goal is to thwart the Palestinian state.
“We are always, and even more so at this time, committed to the development of our good land and thwart any discourse on a Palestinian state that only rewards terrorism,” Smotrich said.
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