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Just hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, DC to meet with President Barack Obama on Monday, press reports in Israel revealed that the government had approved the construction of 2,200 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank.
It was the first conference between the two leaders since the resolution of the Iran nuclear deal, which Netanyahu loudly criticized, but it's not the first time an announcement of expanded settlement construction has come at a critical diplomatic moment. In 2010, Israel announced a raft of settlement construction on the eve of a visit from Vice President Joe Biden — a perceived slight to the Obama administration, which had called for a halt in settlement construction to make room for peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
More than five years later, the so-called peace process is dead in the water. Multiple US-led efforts to jumpstart talks have failed, and over the past month violence has flared across Israel and the West Bank. Settlers have torched Palestinian homes, Palestinians have taken to stabbing Israelis in the streets, and the Israeli army has forcefully clamped down on protests.
As Netanyahu was on his way to make nice with Obama, the Israeli newspaperHaaretz broke news about the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration's decision to move forward with plans to construct 2,200 new units and retroactively legalize two illegal outposts built on Palestinian land east of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
Read more @: Israel Acts to Expand Settlements in the West Bank as Netanyahu Meets with Obama
Illegal settlement expansion. The slow erosion of a future Palestinian state by Israel. Its time for the US to come out and call these actions for what they are, "illegal" and the US needs to do something about it such as holding back or refusing to give Israel aid.