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WORLD NEWS Monday 30 october 2017

Under U.S. pressure, Israel

delays move to expand Jerusalem

By TIA GOLDENBERG ing this is annexation.” Israel annexed east Jerusa-
Associated Press Trump has sent an envoy, lem in a move not recog-
JERUSALEM (AP) — Under Jason Greenblatt, to at- nized internationally and
pressure from the United tempt to breathe life into considers the entire city its
States, Israel has delayed moribund peace talks, undivided capital.
a bill that would connect which collapsed under U.S. Israel says the fate of the
a number of West Bank tutelage in 2014. The ef- settlements, home to
settlements to Jerusalem, fort so far appears to have more than 600,000 Israe-
officials said Sunday. yielded little progress. lis, should be decided
The bill aims to solidify the Trump has presented Israel through peace talks along Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly
city’s Jewish majority, but with a more lenient ap- with other core issues like cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 29,
stops short of formal an- proach to its settlements security.q 2017.
nexation, making the prac- than his predecessor. Associated Press
tical implications unclear. While the administration
The bill says the communi- has said that settlements
ties would be considered are “not helpful” to ad-
“daughter municipalities” vancing peace with the
of Jerusalem. Palestinians, Trump’s Mid-
Israel’s hard-line govern- east team, headed by his
ment has been embold- son-in-law Jared Kushner,
ened by the Trump admin- is led by people with deep
istration’s more sympathet- ties to the settler move-
ic approach to Israel and its ment.
settlement enterprise than Unlike Obama, Trump does
that of President Barack not demand a settlement
Obama, and the draft bill is construction freeze, though
part of a series of pro-settler he has urged restraint. Nor
steps the government has does he demand the es-
taken in recent months. tablishment of a Palestinian
Still, Israeli Prime Minister state, breaking from two
Benjamin Netanyahu has decades of U.S. policy.
sought to remain in Presi- Trump has backed away
dent Donald Trump’s good from a campaign promise
graces. to relocate the U.S. Em-
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper bassy from Tel Aviv to Je-
quoted Netanyahu as say- rusalem, a key Israeli wish,
ing Israel needs to coordi- sparking rare criticism from
nate the bill with the U.S. Israeli lawmakers.
“The Americans turned to Since Trump’s election, Is-
us and inquired what the rael has pushed a pro-set-
bill was about. tlement agenda that has
As we have been coordi- included a bill meant to
nating with them until now, legalize hundreds of settler
it is worth (to continue) talk- homes built on private Pal-
ing and coordinating with estinian land.
them. We are working to It has approved the first
promote and develop the new West Bank settlement
settlement enterprise,” it in two decades and green-
quoted Netanyahu as say- lighted the construction of
ing at a government meet- thousands of new homes.
ing Sunday. The Palestinians claim east
Earlier Sunday, David Bitan, Jerusalem, the West Bank
the Likud party’s parlia- and the Gaza Strip, ter-
mentary whip and a close ritories captured by Israel
Netanyahu ally, told Israeli in the 1967 war, as part of
Army Radio the vote was their future state, a position
delayed because “there is that has wide international
American pressure claim- backing.