There were many smiles in Israel while in the US and other areas, the reaction differed, as US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Thursday, 8 Tishrei, announced that all said, Israel occupies a total of just 2% of the West Bank. Mr. Friedman made his comments to Walla News’ website.

This was not all, as Mr. Friedman added in his comments that “settlements are part of the Jewish state”, a remark that elicited a US Department of State clarification, explaining the Ambassador’s remarks “should not be read as a change in US policy”. Needless to say, Ambassador Friedman’s remarks angered many senior PA (Palestinian Authority) leaders.

Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, responded in a video clip on Twitter that the U.S ambassador had displayed “absolute ignorance of facts of law and of the position of the United States.”

Friedman’s remarks are “very bad news for the future of any American attempt to make peace in the Middle East,” Shaath added.

A US State Department spokeswoman later said Friedman’s remarks “should not be read as a change in U.S. policy.”

“I’m aware of what he said,” spokeswoman Heath Nauert told reporters in Washington. “His comments — and I want to be crystal clear about this — should not be read as a way to prejudge the outcome of any negotiations that the U.S. would have with the Israelis and the Palestinians. It should also not indicate a shift in U.S. policy.”

“Obviously, there is important security considerations to those settlements, there’s important nationalistic, historical and religious significance to those settlements and I think the settlers view themselves as Israelis, and Israel views the settlers as Israelis,” Friedman also said.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called Friedman’s comments “false and misleading.” He said in a statement that “such positions undermine ongoing efforts toward achieving a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine,” based on 1967 borders.

Friedman is a member of President Donald Trump’s team spearheading efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Friedman, Trump’s former bankruptcy attorney, was appointed ambassador earlier this year, a move that was opposed by Democrats and some Jewish groups because of donations to Israeli settlements, opposition to Palestinian statehood and vocal support for hard-line Israeli government positions.

In an interview to the Jerusalem Post earlier this month Friedman referred to the “alleged occupation” of Palestinian territories. The State Department later clarified that his comments did not reflect a change in U.S. policy.

Trump has called an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord “the ultimate deal,” and has sent envoys, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, to meet with the two sides. But little apparent progress has been made, and the Palestinians have expressed frustration over the efforts.

(AP / YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)