The Biden administration condemned an Israeli parliament vote repealing a 2005 law that barred settlers from parts of the West Bank, calling the move “provocative and counterproductive.”
The U.S. is “extremely troubled that the Israeli Knesset has passed legislation rescinding parts of the 2005 Disengagement Law,” deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. “We call on Israel to refrain from allowing settlers to return to the area.”
“Coming at a time of heightened tensions, the legislative changes announced today are provocative and counterproductive to efforts to restore some measures of calm,” Patel said.
The comments were some of the strongest criticism from the U.S. yet toward Israel as tensions rise between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current hard-line government and the Palestinians. The U.S. has also wrestled with how to respond to rising rhetoric from officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He called the vote Tuesday a “historic correction.”
The Disengagement Law resulted in the dismantling of four Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Repealing it further inflamed tensions with the Palestinians and appears to be yet another setback for efforts to achieve a two-state solution.