The Biden administration says it strongly opposes Israel’s plans for more than 3,000 new housing units in the occupied West Bank. On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the settlements are “completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm, and it damages the prospects for a two-state solution. ” As Israel’s most important ally, the United States has built-in leverage with the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett but critics say the domestic, political costs to Joe Biden are too great for him to use it. Marco Werman speaks with Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow and director of program on Palestine and Palestinian Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute.
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