Israel announces the construction of thousands of housing units in West Bank settlements, immediately after a shooting on Thursday, February 22, which caused the death of an Israeli. Eleven other people were injured in the attack, while the three perpetrators were killed. The Israeli decision undermines relations with the United States which continue to deteriorate.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Michael Paul
For Betsalel Smotrich, the ultra-nationalist Israeli minister, the green light for the construction of 3,000 housing units in settlements in West Bank represents an appropriate Zionist response. The vast majority of these accommodations will be established in Maale Adumim, precisely where the deadly shooting took place on the morning of Thursday February 22. The three sites for this resumption of construction, for the first time since the start of the war, are located to the west of the security barrier, in areas considered more consensual.
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But the reaction of the United States was not long in coming. And it was scathing: the American Secretary of State declared himself disappointed by the Israeli announcement. “ Settlements in the West Bank are incompatible with international law “, underlined Antony Blinken. This is an abrupt policy change by the US administration: the Pompeo Doctrine – named after Mike Pompeo, Blinken’s predecessor – is swept away. The former head of American diplomacy, under the presidency of Donald Trump, stipulated that Israeli settlements were not in themselves opposed to international law.
A new point of confrontation between Israel and the United States, and a show of force from the Israeli far right.
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