White House urges settlement restraint

Jerusalem, 3 February, 2017 (TPS) -- The White House has called on Israel to show restraint in announcing new settlements. A senior official said that although the Trump administration does not regard settlements as either illegal or an impediment to reaching a peace agreement, “that does not mean we regard large scale new construction as being necessarily helpful in this regard”.

The official said that the Trump administration has yet to formulate an official policy on this issue.

The statement is seen as a veiled signal to Israel to cease what have become almost daily announcements of planned settlement expansion, and put things on hold until the Netanyahu-Trump meeting, scheduled for February 15 takes place.

It is interesting to note that the statement came after Israel, for the first time since Trump took office, announced it planned to approve new construction not just in greater Jerusalem or the consensus settlement blocks, but in isolated settlements deep inside the West Bank as well.

It is not clear whether the announcement has any connection to recent rumors going around Washington that Steve Bannon has succeeded in cementing his position as Trump’s chief consiglieri, by driving a wedge between Trump and his Jewish son in law and daughter and reducing their influence over him .