Senior staff at the White House Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon (L-R) applaud before being sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence in Washington, DC January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

BET EL, West Bank (Reuters) - For many in the Israeli settlement of Bet El, deep in the occupied West Bank, Donald Trump's choice of Jared Kushner as his senior adviser on the Middle East is a sign of politics shifting in their favor.

They regard Kushner, whose family's charitable foundation has donated tens of thousands of dollars to their settlement, as part of a diplomatic rebalancing after what they view as eight years of anti-Israel bias under the U.S. administration of Barack Obama.

"He will stand up for our interests. I suppose he will lean in our favor," said Avi Lavi, 46, who has lived in Bet El for more than 40 years. "He'll be fair, as opposed to Obama, whose policy leaned always towards the Arabs."

New U.S. President Trump says his son-in-law Kushner, 36, is capable of brokering the "ultimate deal" to deliver peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Roi Margalit, manager of the Bet El Yeshiva, a seminary complex with around 400 students, said Kushner, an Orthodox Jewish father of three, understood the position of Israeli settlers better than previous envoys.

"At least now we have someone who knows us," the 43-year-old added. "He will now have to study the other side (the Palestinians) and see if there is any common ground."

Trump's pick for Israeli ambassador has sparked particular enthusiasm in the community: David Friedman, who chairs the American Friends of Bet El Institutions fundraising group.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Kushner and Friedman.

Kushner, a businessman who built his career on real estate and publishing, has said little about his views about one of the world's most intractable conflicts, either during the campaign or since Trump took office.

The big question for the Palestinians is whether he can be an impartial actor given his family foundation's past financial ties to Bet El.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been careful to say he looks forward to working with the Trump administration, but others are less optimistic.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior official at the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the main Palestinian political umbrella body, said Kushner could not be a neutral envoy if he was supportive of Israeli settlements.

Hani al-Masri, a political scientist and director of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, said Kushner would be a representative of Israel rather than of the United States.

"If he attempts to resume negotiations, he will seek to hold them at a lower level than previous negotiations. It will be more biased to the Israeli position in an era where Israel is more extreme."

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem.

Israel has built about 120 settlements in the West Bank. About 350,000 settlers live there and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem, among about 2.6 million Palestinians.

Most countries consider the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state.

Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land and security interests.

Bet El, a community of 1,300 families perched on a hillside where many believe God promised Jacob the land, has been financed in part by donations from American backers.

Among its donors have been the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which gave $10,000 in 2003, and the foundation of Charles and Seryl Kushner, the parents of Jared, which gave $38,000 in 2013, U.S. tax records show.

The New York-based American Friends of Bet El Institutions hosts dinners to raise funds for the settlement, which overlooks the Palestinian city Ramallah.

Kushner has left it up to his father-in-law to comment on what role he might play.

"Jared is such a good kid and he'll make a deal with Israel that no one else can," Trump told The Times of London newspaper last month. "He's a natural dealmaker - everyone likes him."

Middle East analysts say the settlement donations by Kushner's family foundation are not necessarily deal-breakers.

After decades of failed negotiations, the real test is whether he is prepared to rethink the way the Middle East peace process is conducted, said Hugh Lovatt, a fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"If he reverts to pushing for a process for the sake of process and diplomatic prestige, then he will prove no more successful than his predecessors," Lovatt told Reuters. "If he acquiesces to Israeli territorial demands and gives a green light to more settlement activity, he could even do irreparable damage to the prospects of long-term peace." A key diplomatic factor will be whether the Trump administration commits itself to a two-state solution - Israel and an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side. This remains firmly the goal for the Palestinians and, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israelis. But some of Kushner's supporters in Bet El appear to be heading in a different direction - and the political voice of hardliners could prove a significant obstacle should peace talks resume. "The two-state solution is a scam," said Shai Alon, the head of the local council, who describes himself as optimistic about the "Trump era". "It's not going to happen."</s>Israeli officials have approved the construction of 3,000 new settlement units in the West Bank as part of a massive expansion policy in occupied Palestinian territory.

"[Israeli] Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have decided to authorize the construction of 3,000 new housing units," the defense ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, 2,000 of the units are ready to be put on the market, while the rest are in various stages of planning.

"We're in a new era where life in Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank) is returning to its natural course," said Lieberman, who himself has long lived in a West Bank settlement.

Since Trump took office with top aides sympathetic to the settlement enterprise, the government has announced a string of new projects that will add more than 6,000 homes for Jewish settlers.

On Jan. 22, Jerusalem's municipality approved the construction of 566 new settlement units in east Jerusalem. The plans, approved by Netanyahu and Lieberman, mark the largest recent announcement of settlement building by Israel.

"We are building and will continue to build," Netanyahu said in the statement.

On Jan. 24, Netanyahu approved the construction of 2,500 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, according to a statement issued by his Office.

Two days later on Jan. 26, Israeli officials gave the final approval for 153 settler homes in east Jerusalem.

"I'm going to deliver permits for thousands of homes in Jerusalem in the coming months," Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir had said at the time.

Meanwhile, Trump has pledged strong support for Israel, and Netanyahu's government has moved quickly to take advantage. The prime minister has said he sees the Trump presidency as offering "significant opportunities" after facing "huge pressures" from Barack Obama.

The accelerated settlement expansion has deeply concerned those seeking to salvage a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The former Obama administration despaired of Israel's accelerating settlement expansion and, in a sharp break with longstanding policy, withheld its veto on a critical U.N. Security Council resolution in its final days.

The international community considers all Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land as illegal and regards their construction as the biggest obstacle to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

But in a significant break with the Obama administration, Trump's White House has not condemned any of the four settlement expansions announced by Israel since he took office.

The Palestinians want the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war, as part of their hoped-for state. The Palestinians want these areas, along with the Gaza Strip, for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

International law views the West Bank and east Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land as illegal.

Roughly 500,000 Israelis now live in more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built since Israel occupied the Palestinian West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967.</s>Israel announced plans on Tuesday for 3,000 more settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, the third such declaration in eleven days since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Trump has signaled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor Barack Obama.

A statement from the Israeli Defence Ministry, which administers lands Israel captured in a 1967 war, said the decision was meant to fulfill demand for housing and "return to life as usual".

The announcement came close to midnight as preparations began for the eviction of 330 settlers from an outpost in the West Bank. The Supreme Court had ruled that the Amona outpost must be evacuated by Feb 8. because it was built illegally on privately-owned Palestinian land.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are due to meet in Washington on Feb. 15. The president's chief spokesman said last week the two leaders would discuss settlement building.

The muted response from the Trump White House so far on Israel's settlement announcements has been a clear departure from Obama, whose aides routinely criticized settlement construction plans.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more homes in the West Bank drew rebuke from the Palestinians and from the EU. It followed approval of more than 560 new homes in East Jerusalem days before.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state.

Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests.</s>Israeli policemen remove a pro-settlement activist during an operation by Israeli forces to evict settlers from the illegal outpost of Amona in the occupied West Bank February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday Israel's building of new settlements or expansion of existing ones in occupied territories may not be helpful in achieving peace with Palestinians, adopting a more measured tone than its previous pro-Israel announcements.

In a statement issued two weeks before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit U.S. President Donald Trump, the White House said the administration "has not taken an official position on settlement activity."

Trump, a Republican, has signaled he could be more accommodating toward settlement projects than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. The latest statement reflects slightly more nuanced language on how the new administration views settlement activity.

"While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal," the White House said in a statement.

The statement could disappoint Israel's far-right which had hoped Trump would give an unqualified green light on rapid settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem - areas Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Former president Obama routinely criticized settlement construction plans and his administration often described settlement activity as lacking legitimacy and impeding peace.

The White House statement came as Israel has ratcheted up settlement activity. On Wednesday, it said it would establish a new settlement in the occupied West Bank, the first since the late 1990s. It also announced plans for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the third such declaration in less than two weeks since Trump took office.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more dwellings in the West Bank, territory captured in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war and where Palestinians now seek statehood, drew rebukes from the Palestinians and the European Union.</s>Israel announced plans on Tuesday for 3,000 more settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, the third such declaration in eleven days since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Trump has signalled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor Barack Obama.

A statement from the Israeli Defence Ministry, which administers lands Israel captured in a 1967 war, said the decision was meant to fulfill demand for housing and “return to life as usual”.

The announcement came close to midnight as preparations began for the eviction of 330 settlers from an outpost in the West Bank. The Supreme Court had ruled that the Amona outpost must be evacuated by Feb 8. because it was built illegally on privately-owned Palestinian land.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are due to meet in Washington on Feb. 15. The president’s chief spokesman said last week the two leaders would discuss settlement building.

The muted response from the Trump White House so far on Israel’s settlement announcements has been a clear departure from Obama, whose aides routinely criticized settlement construction plans.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more homes in the West Bank drew rebuke from the Palestinians and from the EU. It followed approval of more than 560 new homes in East Jerusalem days before.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state.

Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land – which the Palestinians also assert – as well as security interests.</s>Rightist protesters scuffled with Israeli police carrying out a court order to evict settlers from an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, hours after the government announced more construction in larger settlements.

Around 330 Israeli settlers live in Amona, the largest of scores of outposts built in the West Bank without official authorisation. The Supreme Court ruled in November, after a lengthy legal battle, that settlers had to leave Amona because their homes were built on privately owned Palestinian land.

With no weapons visible, but wearing backpacks, hundreds of police walked past burning tyres and pushed back against scores of nationalist Israeli youths who flocked to Amona in support of the settlers.

Working into the night the forces made slow progress, with three or four policemen at a time lifting each of the protesters out of dwellings in which they had holed up, and carrying them away onto buses.

By dark police said only 22 of Amona’s 40 families had left.

Thirteen protesters were detained by police during the scuffles and there were a few instances of stone-throwing. A police spokesmen said at least 20 officers were injured slightly by rocks and caustic liquid thrown at them.

The Amona settlers themselves stayed largely put inside their homes after erecting makeshift barriers in front of their doors and vowing passive resistance to eviction.

 “We won’t leave our homes on our own. Pull us out, and we’ll go,” one settler told reporters. “It is a black day for Zionism.”

On a nearby hilltop, Issa Zayed, a Palestinian who said he was one of the owners of the land on which Amona was built, watched the scene through binoculars. “With God’s help, it will be evacuated and our land will return to us,” he said.

Most countries consider all Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests.

Earlier, Israel announced plans for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the third such declaration in 11 days since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Trump, a Republican, has signalled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more dwellings in the West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 Middle East war and where Palestinians now seek statehood, drew rebukes from the Palestinians and the European Union. It followed approval a few days before of over 560 new homes in East Jerusalem, also taken by Israel in 1967.

“The decision ... will place obstacles in the path of any effort to start a peace process that will lead to security and peace,” said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

 In 2006 Amona saw a violent partial eviction, with nine shacks torn down by authorities. Police were confronted by thousands of settlers and more than 200 people were injured.

The Amona issue had caused tension within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. But it eased after he got behind a law proposed by the Jewish Home party, a far-right political ally, to retroactively legalise dozens of outposts. This would not apply to Amona because of the existing court decision.

“We have lost the battle over Amona but we are winning the campaign for the Land of Israel,” cabinet minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett tweeted after the evacuation began.

The legislation is expected to be passed in parliament next week. It is opposed, however, by Israel’s attorney-general and legal experts predict it eventually would be overturned in court.</s>Israeli police dragged nationalist youths out of a barricaded synagogue on Thursday, completing the forced evacuation of an illegal outpost in the West Bank even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to build evicted families a new settlement.

Some 100 youngsters protesting against the removal of some 300 settlers from Amona, an outpost built without Israeli government authorisation, kicked at police who used a high-pressure hose and a wooden pole to batter down sheet metal and furniture blocking the entrances to the synagogue.

The teenagers painted a Nazi swastika on a synagogue wall next to a slogan denouncing the police.

The evacuation began on Wednesday, when most of the families that settled in Amona were removed. But the youths holed up in the synagogue overnight.

Police, announcing that Amona had been cleared, said some 60 officers were slightly hurt in the two-day operation. Hospitals reported that at least four protesters had been treated for injuries.

Amona, built in 1995, was the largest of scores of outposts erected in the West Bank without formal approval. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled last November that it must be evacuated because it stands on privately-owned Palestinian land.

In a statement late on Wednesday and again in a speech in the West Bank on Thursday, Netanyahu said a new settlement would be built for Amona’s families and that a committee would be set up to locate a site.

“We will work to have it happen as soon as possible,” he said, speaking in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Once constructed, it will be the first new settlement built in the West Bank since 1999. Construction in existing settlements has raised to 350,000 the number of Israelis living in the territory, which was captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Another 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, also seized in that conflict.

Most countries consider all Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land – which the Palestinians also assert – as well as security interests.

Since Donald Trump took office as US president on Jan 20, Israel has announced plans for almost 6,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, drawing European and Palestinian condemnation but no criticism from the White House.

Trump, a Republican, has signalled he could be more accommodating toward settlements than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces and settlers left in 2005, with East Jerusalem as its capital.</s>Alwaght- Israeli regime has approved plans to build 3,000 more settlements on the occupied lands of West Bank despite global condemnation.

The regime’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his minister for military affairs, Avigdor Lieberman have approved the projects that were announced through a statement on Tuesday.

Emboldened by January 20 inauguration of Trump, Tel Aviv launched its major settlement expansion drive.

Just a few days after Trump's swearing-in, Israeli regime announced some 2,500 settler units in the West Bank and around 500 more in al-Quds.

Last week, Netanyahu said that Israel’s settlement approval is just a “taste” of new measures, which will be taken now that Barack Obama is no longer the US president.

Over 230 illegal settlements have been constructed since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The illegal structures have hampered attempts to establish peace in the West Asia. In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 that denounced the Israeli settlements as a "flagrant violation of international law."</s>JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's parliament has postponed a vote that would allow it to appropriate hundreds of hectares of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, the parliament's website said on Tuesday (Jan 31).

The Knesset, or parliament, on Monday (Jan 30) began to consider the Bill ahead of second and third parliamentary readings due to take place this week.

Voting will now take place next week, the Knesset website said, with Feb 6 the earliest the Bill can be passed.

Presented by the pro-settlement lobby, the Bill would retroactively legalise nearly 4,000 Jewish homes in the occupied West Bank built in contravention of Israeli law, according to the anti-settlement organisation Peace Now.

More than 800 hectares of Palestinian land would be expropriated, the organisation said.

The Palestinian owners of the land would be compensated financially or with land elsewhere.

It would be the first time Israel has applied its own civil law to land it recognises as Palestinian-owned in the West Bank, critics say.

The Bill is backed by Israel's right-wing government but has alarmed the international community and supporters of an independent Palestinian state.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation has called it a "declaration of war".

Israel's opposition leader Isaac Herzog says the law would pose a danger to Israel and could amount to annexation of parts of the West Bank, the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967.

The opposition had initially demanded that debates on the Bill be spread out over 38 days, but this period was shortened, the Knesset website said.

The delay means the vote could now come in the same week as the Feb 8 deadline for the evacuation of the "outpost" settlement of Amona.

The fate of Amona, which an Israeli court demanded be demolished as it is built on private Palestinian land, was one of the key factors driving the right wing's push for the Bill.

However, Amona is not included among the 54 outposts that would be legalised, according to Peace Now.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, with much of the international community seeing them as a major obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.</s>U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon sharply criticized a decision by Israel to advance plans to build hundreds of units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem just days after world powers called on Israel to stop its settlement policy, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

"This raises legitimate questions about Israel's long-term intentions, which are compounded by continuing statements of some Israeli ministers calling for the annexation of the West Bank," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Ban was "deeply disappointed" that Israel's announcement followed the release of a report on Friday by the "Quartet" sponsoring the stalled Middle East peace process - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

The long-awaited report said Israel should stop building settlements, denying Palestinian development and designating land for exclusive Israeli use that Palestinians seek for a future state.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war. The last round of peace talks broke down in April 2014 and Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged in recent months.

The Quartet report said at least 570,000 Israelis are living in the settlements.

Ban "reiterates that settlements are illegal under international law and urges the Government of Israel to halt and reverse such decisions in the interest of peace and a just final status agreement," Dujarric said.

Diplomats said the Quartet report was not as hard-hitting as expected after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out to ensure the document was softened.
Israel announces it will build an entirely new settlement in the West Bank for the first time in about twenty years. Many in the international community believe that such settlements are illegal but Israel disputes that. The settlement program is illegal under international law.