A senior official in the Trump administration comes out against Israeli legislation that seeks to absorb a number of West Bank settlements into Jerusalem.
“It’s fair to say that the US is discouraging actions that it believes will unduly distract the principals from focusing on the advancement of peace negotiations. The Jerusalem expansion bill was considered by the Administration to be one of those actions,” the official told journalists.
The bill aims to solidify the city’s Jewish majority, but stops short of formal annexation, making the practical implications unclear. The bill says the communities would be considered “daughter municipalities” of Jerusalem.
David Bitan, the Likud party’s parliamentary whip and a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Army Radio this morning that pressure from the United States led Israel to delay a vote on the bill in the key Ministerial Committee for Legislation.
“There is American pressure claiming this is annexation,” he said.
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