The US administration has given the Israeli government its approval for settlement construction in Occupied Jerusalem without openly stating this position according to Haaretz newspaper.
The newspaper said on Thursday that US envoy Jason Greenblatt who arrived in the occupied territories last week conveyed US president Donald Trump’s “silent consent” to Israel’s settlement construction in Jerusalem during his meetings with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
However it noted that this US approval was given on condition that construction activities should be confined only to Jewish outposts and major settlement blocs in east Jerusalem and not outside their boundaries.
Haaretz said that Netanyahu expressed reservation at the US proposal and refused to halt construction outside the settlement blocs.
Consequently the US and Israeli sides failed to reach an agreement in this regard and decided to discuss other formulas in talks slated for Washington this week between Netanyahu and Trump.
