Israeli settlement spending rose after Trump’s election

The arrival of US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office led to an increase in Israeli spending on its settlements in the occupied West Bank. Figures provided to The National by Israeli watchdog Peace Now show that spending on roads, schools and public buildings in the settlements increased by more than a third in 2017. Mr Trump came into power in January 2016.

Spending increased in that year to $330 million (Dh1.21 billion) but rose to $460m in 2017, becoming the highest year for settlement spending in 15 years. The numbers, released by the Israeli government do not include services such as health, education and police.

The Israeli authorities provide the same services for illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank as they do for citizens who live within its legitimate boundaries.

Much of the construction took place in settlements that are unlikely to feature in any peace deal because they would have to be cleared to make way for a Palestinian state.

The spending indicates an Israeli preoccupation with building up these settlement blocks. Last year, almost 1,539 housing units were built in these settlements, representing 73 per cent of all settlement construction for 2018.

In the same year, almost 90 per cent of all construction was for permanent structures. The rest was for mobile homes. Israel has dotted Jewish outposts around East Jerusalem and the West Bank, two territories it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. About 630,000 Israeli settlers now live in the two territories in proximity to about three million Palestinians.

Tensions often run high and Palestinians have launched dozens of attacks against Israeli targets in the two territories. Palestinian leaders say these are in response to an occupation that has hamstrung the daily lives of their people.

On the campaign trail, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an apparent attempt to win over right-wing voters and secure his fifth term, pledged to annex settlements in the West Bank.

It is a move that would be rejected by most of the international community, which already considers the settlements to be illegal.

But the US administration has not indicated it would stand in Mr Netanyahu’s way if he went ahead and annexed the illegal outposts.

Palestinians seek the occupied West Bank as part of a future state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. But continued and unopposed Israeli settlement building has dealt a major blow to any hope of a contiguous Palestinian entity.

The Peace Now figures show how a decade under Mr Netanyahu has driven settlement construction. On his watch, 19,346 new housing units have been built and 120,517 settlers added to the West Bank between 2009 and 2018.

“The Israeli government is digging the country a pit to fall in,” Peace Now said. “Even if the government does not believe that peace can be achieved in the near future, there is no logic to expanding the settlements and making the solution impossible.”

The White House is preparing to unveil its long-promised peace plan but the Palestinians have said they will reject any deal proposed by Washington because its policies favour Israel.

The plan is highly unlikely to call for Israel to halt annexation of the settlements because of the close ties between Trump administration players on regional issues and the Israeli right.

Mr Trump is a longtime friend of Mr Netanyahu, while his ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, served as the head of a group that raised funds for projects in one of the most hardline West Bank settlements, Beit El.

The parents of Mr Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have also donated money to West Bank settlements.

The Israeli government is digging the country a pit to fall in … there is no logic to expanding the settlements PEACE NOW Israeli NGO