Washington opposes Israeli settlement building: US envoy

By Abdel Rauf Arnaut

JERUSALEM (AA) – US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said Wednesday Washington opposes Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

"We do not support settlement growth. I made that position quite clear to the government, to all the players...including the Prime Minister," Nides told a press conference in Jerusalem.

"We will continue to working with the Israeli government to limit any settlement growth outside of green line Israel," he added.

The US envoy lauded Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's speech at the United Nations last week in which he affirmed his support for a two-state resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He was vague, however, when asked about Lapid's refusal to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We encourage any bit of dialogue that occurs. Our hope is that it will lead to more conversations. We obviously encourage those conversations to happen. We support his [Lapid's] continuation of the articulation of the hope of a two-state solution," Nides said.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activities there illegal.

Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate there are about 650,000 settlers living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the West Bank, including in occupied Jerusalem.