WASHINGTON
\nThe United States opposes Israel\u2019s retroactive authorization of Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, adding that he was \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by the move that came less than two weeks after he raised US opposition to such moves on a trip to the region.
\n\u201cWe strongly oppose such unilateral measures, which exacerbate tensions and undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution,\u201d Blinken said in a statement, reiterating his call for all parties to avoid actions that can further escalate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
\nIsrael\u2019s move on Sunday to legalize nine settler outposts in and build new homes within established settlements came after months of simmering violence in the West Bank.
\nUS State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Blinken had made his opposition to the legalization of settler outposts clear during the visit to Israel and the West Bank that concluded on Jan. 31.
\nAsked what the United States would do about the Israeli move to go ahead with authorizations, Price did not outline any actions.
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\n\u201cIsrael of course is going to make its own sovereign decisions. We have made our opinion, our very strong opinion on this very clear,\u201d Price said.
\nUS officials were having \u201cintensive discussions\u201d with Israel, the Palestinians and other countries in the region, and US efforts to de-escalate tensions would continue, he added.
\nA senior Israeli official, who declined to be identified, said Israel was not surprised by the US response since the two sides have disagreed on the issue for decades.
\n\u201cThese disagreements did not hurt and will not hurt the strong alliance between Israel and the United States,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON The United States opposes Israel\u2019s retroactive authorization of Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, adding that he was \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by the move that came less than two weeks after he raised US opposition to such moves on a trip to the region. \u201cWe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-313777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n