Amona alternative is not new settlement, Netanyahu claims

Settlers who were forced out of the illegal outpost of Amona will not be housed in a new settlement in the occupied West Bank Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, but in existing settlements.

Netanyahu’s remarks come ahead of the arrival of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process today.

Israel’s Channel 7 said the new settlement outpost, where settlers from the illegal Amona outpost are due to live, may cause a problem between Israel and the United States due to its strategic location adding that Netanyahu is to maintain that this is not a new settlement, but an alternative location. This would be based on the “one for one” policy.

Both the US and the Palestinian Authority are expected not to accept of this solution as it would hamper the ability of the establishment of a viable Palestinian state as the new settlement’s location would divide the occupied West Bank even further.