US tells Israel 'refrain' from settler building as de-facto freeze sets in
>The United States publicly called on Israel to refrain from West Bank settlement construction as some settler leaders have warned that a half-year freeze on planning activity is already in place
<“I think there is definitely a de facto freeze,” Efrat Council head Oded Revivi told The Jerusalem Post, noting that the facts speak for themselves.
>In Washington on Wednesday a journalist asked US State Department spokesman Ned Price if the Biden administration was pressuring Israel to halt all settlement activity.
<“When it comes to settlement activity we have been clear and consistent,” Price said.
<“We believe its critical to refrain from unilateral steps that increase tension and make it difficult to advance a negotiated two-state solution.
<“This is a message we have conveyed in public, as I have just now, but also in private,” Price said.
>An Israeli source said the story that Israel had frozen West Bank settlement planning was “nonsense, “ adding that no such pressure had been applied.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/us-tells-israel-refrain-from-settler-building-as-de-facto-freeze-sets-in-674652
