US State Department Blasts New West Bank Law, US-Israeli Relations Sour

View of the Jewish Settlement of Efrat, West Bank on Jan 30, 2023 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean).

In a rare critical statement, the Biden administration has strongly condemned a new Israeli law passed by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Monday that could open up a northern region in the occupied-West Bank to additional Jewish settlements. 

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel called the move “provocative and counterproductive,” and told reporters that the Biden administration is discussing potential responses to what it considers a “clear contradiction” to a 2005 agreement between the United States and Israel. 

In 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and then-President George W. Bush agreed — with an exchange of official letters between their two governments — that Israel would evacuate four Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip. In return, the Bush administration accepted that large settlements in the occupied West Bank, retrieved during the 1967 Six Day War, would remain a part of Israel in any future peace proposal with the Palastinians.  

Notably, neither the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) nor the Palestinian Authority (PA) were included in these negotiations. 

Israel’s new law, introduced by lawmaker Yuli Adelstein from Israel’s right-wing Likud party, reopens the northern region that was evacuated in 2005 to Israeli citizens. The Biden administration fears that this will result in the rebuilding of Jewish settlements in the area, reinvigorating tensions with the Palestinians before upcoming religious holidays. 

"This is a condemned and rejected decision and it is contrary to all resolutions of international legitimacy," said one PA spokesperson. 

The United States officially supports a “two-state solution” where Palastinians would have an officially recognized state consisting of the occupied territories lost to Israel during the 1967 war. While critics have long questioned America’s commitment to such an arrangement, given that the status of military aid to Israel remains unconditional, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated in a January meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a two-state solution is the only viable path out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In February, Israel legalized nine more settler outposts. Many experts believe that one of the largest obstacles to a two-state solution is in fact the expansion and solidification of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. 

Israel’s settlements are considered illegal by most states and international institutions under international law.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, West Bank on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023 (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

After visiting Netanyahu, Blinken met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas on January 31. Blinken made few tangible commitments however, other than promises of financial aid to the Palestinian territories. Blinken urged both Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from violence during the meeting, and conceded that hopes for a two-state solution are diminishing. 

“What we’re seeing now for Palestinians is a shrinking horizon of hope, not an expanding one. And that, too, we believe needs to change,” said Blinken. 

Back in November, Israel elected its most far-right government in the country's history, exasperating Palestinian leaders and causing friction with the center-left Biden administration. Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has shot up since Netanyahu and his far-right coalition re-established control of Israel.

The first months of 2023 have been some of the deadliest months for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in years. Mostly, these deaths are occuring during Israeli military raids which plan to quash a “growing insurgency” among Palestinians who are reacting to Israel’s recent shift to the right. 

Another major point of contention between the Biden administration and Netanyahu’s coalition has been the plan to overhaul Israel’s judicial system, which would weaken the Israeli Supreme Court’s ability to revoke laws passed by the Knesset. The reforms have been met with massive protests inside of Israel, causing fears that violence could break out between the government and opposition parties. 

In a phone call with Netanyahu last week, Biden expressed his concerns over the overhaul plan, saying that a strong independent judiciary was a critical component of a modern democracy. 

According to a White House readout of the call, Biden "underscored his belief that democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship, that democratic societies are strengthened by genuine checks and balances, and that fundamental changes should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support."