US ambassador to Israel slams government settlements policy

Israel cited recent alleged stabbing attacks against settlers – residing in the occupied West Bank contrary to global law – as reasons for refusing to provide passes, which are issued on a day-to-day basis.

Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers, while others have been shot dead by Israeli forces during protests and clashes.

Israel has constructed over 230 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since its war with Palestinians in 1967.

“The Americans are asking [Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu] to stop settlements and the confiscation of land”.

The watchdog called for a consumer boycott of settlement companies and for businesses to comply with their own human rights responsibilities by ceasing settlement-related activities.

However, in the face of dire economic conditions in the Palestinian territories the PA has largely turned a blind eye to workers seeking employment in Israeli settlements.

The settlements have been constructed on lands which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast and has been controlling ever since.

About 26,000 Palestinians work in the settlements, almost 10,000 of them without proper permits. Speaking to the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, a top Israeli think tank, he said Israel’s continued expansion of settlements raises questions about Israel’s intentions and its stated commitment to establishing an independent Palestinian state.

The report comes as Israel battles a European Union effort to label any Israeli products produced in disputed areas.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense said Wednesday that officials have approved the expropriation of some 370 acres (150 hectares) of land in the West Bank near the city of Jericho, in a move that drew sharp condemnation from the Obama Administration. They asked both sides to avoid any steps that could lower the likelihood of a two-state solution and reemphasized that Europe supports intra-Palestinian reconciliation and the holding of new democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s government had already come under heavy pressure over the spate of attacks and Sunday’s killing provoked fresh outrage.

The attack Monday on Froman was the latest in a four month-long wave of violence that shows no sign of abating.

“The words of the ambassador, on a day in which a murdered mother of six is buried and on a day in which a pregnant woman is stabbed, are unacceptable and incorrect”, the prime minister said in a statement.

At least 155 Palestinians have also been killed during that time.