By AFP – Jan 26,2017 – JORDAN TIMES
A photo taken on Monday from Jerusalem shows the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Palestinian West Bank with the mountains at the east of the Jordan River in the background (AFP photo by Thomas Coex)
RAMALLAH — A senior Palestinian official said Wednesday he was “shocked” by the White House’s silence on Israeli settlement expansion and called on US President Donald Trump’s administration to clarify its policy.
“We used to hear condemnations, we used to hear American positions saying ‘[Israel] should stop settlement activities, it’s an obstacle to peace’,” Palestine Liberation Organisation Secretary General Saeb Erekat told AFP.
“Not commenting, does that mean that President Trump is encouraging… settlement activities? We need an answer from the American administration,” he said.
Since Trump’s inauguration last week, Israel has approved some 3,000 settler housing units in the occupied West Bank and in annexed East Jerusalem, signalling a sharp change of pace from such projects during the Barack Obama years.
In a telling break with the previous administration, the Trump White House did not condemn Israel’s latest settlement announcements.
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Categories: Israel, Palestine, The Muslim Times, United States
So what? What difference would it make if the USA ‘protests’? Previous administration protested and paid more than any other administration…