White House Statement on Israeli Settlements

Freeze Settlements Expansion

On September 4, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement in response to reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to approve hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank prior to a moratorium on settlement construction. “We regret the reports of Israel’s plans to approve additional settlement construction. Continued settlement activity is inconsistent with Israel’s commitment under the Roadmap…The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop.”

The U.S. is currently working with Israelis, Palestinians, and Arab states on the steps they must take to resume meaningful negotiations. The White House statement explains the importance of a settlement freeze saying, “We are working to create a climate in which negotiations can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate.”

The Administration reaffirmed its commitment to Israel’s security saying that security for Israel “can best be achieved through comprehensive peace in the region, including a two-state solution with a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel.”

Talks between U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell and Israeli authorities are continuing. President Obama is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 21, and many are hopeful there will be some announcement about peace efforts at that time. Stay tuned.

To read the official White House statement, please click here. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-by-the-Press-Secretary-on-Israeli-Settlements/

Background Reading:

“Remarks to the Press,” Ian Kelly, United States Department of State, September 4, 2009

“U.S. ‘regrets’ Netanyahu plan to approve new West Bank homes,” Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff, and Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, September 5, 2009.

“West Bank settlement growth looks likely,” Richard Boudreaux and Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2009

Hoyer and Cantor Constituents:  Tell Your Congressmen to Stop Undermining the President’s Peace Efforts (August 19, 2009) 

?  Israel hints it may retroactively legalize settlement construction

?  Settler leaders: Netanyahu government ‘humiliating’ us

?  Abbas: No peace talks without full settlement freeze

?  U.S. turns up heat on Israel over settlements

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