![US envoy to Israel, David Friedman, spoke at a business event in Ariel settlement on 16 October, 2018 [Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/David-Friedman.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
US envoy to Israel, David Friedman, spoke at a business event in Ariel settlement yesterday, reportedly “the first ever official visit by a sitting American ambassador to a West Bank settlement”.
According to the Jerusalem Post and Arutz Sheva, Friedman attended an event organised by the “Judea and Samaria [West Bank] Chamber of Commerce and Industry”.
At the meeting, Friedman “met with a group of Israeli and Palestinian Arab business leaders to discuss joint economic ventures”.
The ambassador subsequently tweeted: “At the invitation of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce, I met in Ariel with Palestinian & Israeli business leaders ready, willing & able to advance joint opportunity & peaceful coexistence. People want peace & we are ready to help! Is the Palestinian leadership listening?”
Until Donald Trump’s presidency, US ambassadors have not been allowed to cross the pre-1967 lines, much less visit the West Bank. However, as the Jerusalem Post noted, “from the moment Friedman arrived, he made condolence calls there and visited the Western Wall”.
READ: The US will always recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, says Friedman
However, the paper continued, “this is the first time, however, that he went to a settlement to attend an official conference as a representative of the US government”.
Ariel settlement lies deep in the northern West Bank. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law.