Avigdor Lieberman Wants Deal With Trump To Expand Big West Bank Settlements
Image by getty images
JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister said his country should reach an agreement with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to freeze building in isolated West Bank settlements in exchange for continued building in settlement blocs.
Avigdor Liberman made the remarks on Wednesday at a briefing with reporters, the first since his Yisrael Beiteinu party joined the ruling government coalition in May.
Lieberman also said that Trump’s advisers have sent official messages to the Israeli government asking that it stop commenting on Israeli expectations for the administration’s future policies regarding Israel.
“I hope that we have enough sense to stop the jubilation and public enthusiasm. It is undoubtedly damaging,” Liberman said.
“In the messages we received from the Trump team, they asked us to act modestly. We will wait and we won’t establish facts on the ground.”
Liberman said the government should concentrate on having the new Trump administration ratify the Bush-Sharon formula, under which then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon committed Israel to the two-state solution and to refrain from building outside of major settlement blocs.
He called concentrating settlement construction on the areas where 80 percent of the settlers live a “good thing,” though Liberman acknowledged that such a policy would not help him politically.
Speaking about a controversial bill to legalize some West Bank outposts, notably Amona, Liberman said: “I’m not certain that it’s the best solution,” and added he believes it will be impossible to avoid evacuating the outpost as per a Supreme Court ruling.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Language apps are putting Hebrew school in teens’ back pockets. But do they work?
-
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
-
Fast Forward Is the Passover Seder Zionist?
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 3
Fast Forward How Coke’s Passover recipe sparked an antisemitic conspiracy theory
- 4
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion This Nazi-era story shows why Trump won’t fix a terrifying deportation mistake
-
Opinion I operate a small Judaica business. Trump’s tariffs are going to squelch Jewish innovation.
-
Fast Forward Language apps are putting Hebrew school in teens’ back pockets. But do they work?
-
Books How a Jewish boy from Canterbury became a Zulu chieftain
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.