Trump recently said that advancing settlement construction is unhelpful for peace, but which settlements exactly he was referring to is open for interpretation.
Judy Maltz
If his latest statements are any indication, U.S. President Donald Trump may be having second thoughts about how unharmful Israel’s West Bank settlement project is to the peace process.
In an interview published on Friday with the Israeli daily Israel Hayom, Trump described himself as “not someone who believes that advancing settlements is good for peace,” and urged the government to “act reasonably.”
“There is limited remaining territory,” Trump said. “Every time you take land for a settlement, less territory
remains.”
In a statement issued through the White House a week earlier, he said that although settlements per se were not an
impediment to peace, “the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their
current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal.”
America’s unpredictable new president may be a bit more forthcoming about where he draws the line when he meets
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. Meanwhile, his statements have been interpreted as a green
light for Israel to continue building within the settlement blocs, though not beyond them.
Settlement blocs refer to the larger Jewish population centers located in the West Bank, many of which are close to
the Green Line, or the borders of the 1949 armistice agreement. Many of them fall on the Israeli side of the
incomplete separation barrier Israel began building nearly 15 years ago during the second Palestinian
uprising.
