Settlement tensions between the US and Israel

The US summoned the Israeli ambassador in Washington to the Foreign Ministry after the Israeli Parliament passed the law that would reopen the 4 illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that were evacuated in 2005.

According to The Times of Israel, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel reported that US Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman expressed “concerns” about the newly passed law in the Israeli Parliament to Israeli Ambassador Mike Herzog. Sherman told Ambassador Herzog, who was summoned to the Foreign Ministry after the Israeli Parliament approved the decision to reopen four illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that was evacuated in 2005, that the parties will increase tension in the region before of the upcoming Passover (Passover), Passover and Eid al-Fitr., stressed the need to avoid actions and rhetoric.

US State Department deputy spokesman Patel also urged Israel to refrain from allowing the return of settlers “in accordance with its commitment to the United States” in 2005. Patel noted that the words of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s “ignoring the Palestinian people” and using the “map of Israel” that includes Jordan were “offensive, alarming and dangerous.”

Noting that the Palestinian people have a rich history and culture, Patel said the United States attaches importance to its partnership with the Palestinians.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Smotrich, in his speech at the commemoration ceremony for former Likud party chairman Jacques Kupfer during his visit to Paris on March 19, stated that “Palestine does not exist and the White House should hear it”. Notably, Smotrich used the “map of Israel,” which included Jordan, at the podium where he spoke. (AA)