State Department: US Policy on Settlements Will Outlast Obama
“So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels.” (Psalm 81:13)
Housing Construction in Jerusalem (Photo: Flash90)
US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday in Washington the US would continue to oppose Israeli settlement activity long after President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“Our opposition – this administration’s opposition to settlements – is fully consistent with the policies of administrations for decades, including of both parties. So the notion that that would change is not borne out by history,” Psaki said.
Psaki made her statement in response to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s comments on Tuesday, when he spoke at Mekor Chaim Yeshiva high school in Gush Etzion. Ya’alon was asked about a building freeze in Israeli settlements outside the 1967 borders, to which he responded the Obama administration hindered construction.
Ya’alon’s conversation at the yeshiva, where two of the three boys kidnapped in June studied, was meant to be off the record, but it was recorded and parts of it broadcast on Israel Army Radio.
A reporter got wind of the comments and asked Psaki about them.
“He was quoted as saying the Obama administration is not going to last forever, which is – seems to be a statement of fact,” the reporter pointed out. “But you’re predicting that whatever – whoever the next president is, his or her administration is not going to change the US position on settlements…This is an issue…that you think is bipartisan enough that it will survive.”
Psaki agreed with the reporter’s assessment, saying it had been true for some time now. In fact, US policy on Israeli settlements has been fairly consistent for two decades, whether under Democratic or Republican leadership.
Sources close to Ya’alon responded to the Army Radio report, saying Ya’alon considers the US Israel’s greatest friend, despite recent tensions.
“The scope and the depth of the strategic cooperation between them is unprecedented,” they stated.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/25646/state-department-us-policy-settlements-will-outlast-obama/#xxJAkPvx2Yi4krlT.99
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