US elections won’t stop Obama from criticizing Bibi
The Obama administration keeps condemning settlement construction even during the election campaign period, thus demonstrating that criticizing the policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouldn't block the road to the White House.
Here are two statements issued this year by US State Department spokesman John Kirby. Those who can find significant differences between the two will win a guided tour of the Jewish quarter of the West Bank city of Hebron conducted by the anti-occupation organization Breaking the Silence.
One statement was issued July 28 following Israel’s announcement of plans to build across the Green Line, including the construction of 770 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood of East Jerusalem. In addition, the authorities approved the construction of 500 housing units in the settlement town of Ma'ale Adumim, 42 in the settlement town of Kiryat Arba and 323 units in Jewish neighborhoods on the other side of the Green Line in East Jerusalem.
Kirby said, “We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. … We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, which raises serious questions about Israel's ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. … This is part of an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansion, legalizations of outposts, and denial of Palestinian development that risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict.”
The other statement was issued Jan. 8 following a decision by then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon authorizing the establishment of a new settlement in a former church compound (Beit Bracah), thereby expanding the Etzion settlement bloc southward.
