The Biden Administration has reportedly been pressuring the Israeli government to curb construction in Jewish communities in the West Bank, according to Axios.
The US most senior envoy in Jerusalem, Michael Ratney, has reportedly raised specific concerns about possible construction in the E1 area near Israel’s capital city.
A US official told Axios that the government has been in weekly contact with Israel about settlements since the Washington meeting.
"There is great sensitivity right now with the Americans about settlements. This is the reason the approval of new planning and building in the settlements is held up for now," a senior Israeli official said.
The Prime Minister’s office said it would not comment on private conversations with US officials, and the US embassy remained similarly tight-lipped about communications between the two allies, though it called for “all parties to refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution. That includes settlement activity.”
In the same context, the far-right Religious Zionism party responded to the report by saying Bennett’s coalition was “inviting international pressure.”
“There is a de facto construction freeze in Judea and Samaria,” the party said in a statement, using the biblical name for the West Bank. Israel is already paying a heavy price for the [government’s] failed conduct.”
David Elhayani, who is the current chair of the Yesha umbrella council of settlement mayors, said in a statement: “It would be better for the Biden administration to not get involved in internal Israeli matters.
“We won’t suffer this gross American intervention, and we expect Prime Minister Bennett to completely reject it,” Elhayani said.
