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The Biden administration summoned on Tuesday Israel's ambassador Michael Herzog to express its displeasure over a law that would allow illegal settlement outposts in key areas of the occupied West Bank that were evacuated in 2005.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman conveyed to Herzog the administration’s concern regarding the newly adopted legislation. The State Department offered no other details on the conversation, but the Israeli press stressed that such a meeting is highly unusual between the two countries, reflecting a degradation of relations between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government.
Earlier on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Washington was “extremely troubled” by the new legislation, calling it “provocative” for violating commitments given to the United States by two Israeli governments, under Ariel Sharon and Netanyahu's current one. “We call on Israel to refrain from allowing settlers to return to the area,” said the spokesperson.
But on Wednesday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified that Israel will not establish new settlements in the northern West Bank.
The statement issued by Netanyahu’s office read, "The Knesset's decision to cancel parts of the disengagement law brings an end to discriminatory and humiliating legislation that prohibited Jews from living in the areas of northern Samaria, part of our historical homeland. It is no coincidence that senior members of the opposition supported this law through the process [of approval]." The statement went on, "The government has no intention of establishing new settlements in these areas."
The Knesset voted on Monday in favor of allowing Israelis to stay in the north of the West Bank, where four settlements (Homesh, Ganim, Kadim and Sa-Nur) were demolished in the framework of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The 2005 disengagement law prevented Israelis from returning to the four evacuated settlements or rebuilding them. Israeli ownership of land there was revoked. Over the years, settlers have visited the sites in defiance of the law, especially Homesh, where a makeshift yeshiva was set up.
National Missions Minister Orit Strock, who had sponsored the new bill, lambasted the Biden administration Wednesday for criticizing the legislation. "The foolish and unjust reason why [Prime Minister] Arik Sharon evacuated, destroyed and expelled the residents of the four north West Bank settlements was to please the Americans. In return, Sharon received the so-called [President George] Bush letter, which [President Barack] Obama was unable to find and I have yet to hear that [President Joe] Biden retrieved," she said.
Strock was referring to a letter by Bush to Sharon, pledging that any future agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians will take into account existing settlement blocs.
Hours after the adoption of the new legislation, Strock and other settler leaders visited Homesh accompanied by Israeli security forces.
Opposition head Yair Lapid blamed the government for destroying Washington’s diplomatic support of Israel. "[Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates] are taking the steps we have always known we cannot take. If Netanyahu were not as weak as he is now, he would have prevented them from doing so."
US Ambassador to Israel Tome Nides met on Tuesday with senior Arab Israeli legislator Ahmad Tibi to discuss these latest developments.
Palestinian spokesperson Nabil Abu Rodeineh warned that the Israeli government is escalating tensions while the international community is working to de-escalate the volatile situation in the West Bank and Jerusalem. He called on the international community and on Washington to pressure Israel into canceling the move.
The new legislation adds to a growing list of disagreements between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government. Washington is troubled over statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — first his call to "wipe out" the West Bank Palestinian village of Huwara and then his speech in Paris, where he argued that the Palestinian people do not exist. The administration is also concerned over the judicial overhaul advanced by the government. In a phone call with Netanyahu last Sunday, Biden expressed at length his concerns over Israel eroding its democratic values.
