On October 26, local time, US State Department spokesperson Price stated at a regular press conference that the US strongly opposed Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, saying that this would undermine the prospect of the "two-state solution."
Price said that the United States is deeply concerned about the Israeli government’s recent plan to promote thousands of settlement houses and the public bidding of settlement houses in the West Bank.
Israel's plan to retroactively legalize illegal settlements is "unacceptable" in the US view.
Price's response is considered to be a relatively rare tough wording from the US on the issue of settlements.
On October 24, the Israeli Land Administration announced that it had begun bidding for the construction of 1,355 settlement housing projects in the West Bank.
Israel’s Supreme Civil Affairs Planning and Construction Committee will hold a meeting in the near future and is expected to approve the construction of another 3,144 settlement housing projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the main obstacles to the peace talks between Palestine and Israel.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank in the Third Middle East War in 1967, and since then began to build Jewish settlements in these areas.
The Palestinians insisted that they refused to resume peace talks unless Israel completely stopped the construction of Jewish settlements.
(Making Yueziyan)
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]