The Trump administration on Friday reemphasized its opposition to Israel annexing the West Bank, but intentionally avoided condemning Jerusalem’s planned building of settlements in the controversial E1 area.

Asked for comment on the project, the State Department regurgitated a statement it has previously used regarding Israeli policy in the West Bank, without mentioning E1 at all.

“As the president has clearly stated, the US does not support Israel annexing the West Bank. A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region,” read a statement attributed to a State Department spokesperson that was sent to querying reporters.

The comments came as Israel faced growing international criticism for advancing the E1 project earlier this week, which both supporters and opponents say could mark the death knell for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state by bisecting the West Bank and further preventing Palestinian territorial contiguity.

“The Israeli Government’s decision to publish construction tenders for the E1 settlement project is unacceptable,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote Friday in a post on X. “We have long opposed this step.”

France, Germany, Britain and Italy had already condemned the Israeli project, and an Israeli television channel reported Thursday that the European Union was preparing a package of sanctions if Israel breaks ground on the new settlement units.

Israel’s E1 plans were also denounced by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who issued a joint statement Friday denouncing the project as a “dangerous escalation” that further advances settlement expansion and annexation of Palestinian lands.

“The ministers call for immediate action to halt the ‘E1’ settlement plan, rescind all measures taken in connection with it, and cease all settlement activities and other measures aimed at altering the geographic and demographic character of the occupied Palestinian territory,” the ministers said.

The tenders issued this........

© The Times of Israel