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Donald Trump’s presidency disaster for Palestinians: Analyst

Monday, 14 November 2016 11:20 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 November 2016 11:22 AM ]

A picture taken on November 3, 2016 shows a partial view of the settlement of Gilo in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds. (AFP photo)

Israel has approved a controversial plan to legalize settlements constructed on private Palestinian land in exchange for compensation. Analysts believe that Tel Aviv will have less to worry about, once Donald Trump takes over the reins of power in Washington. There have already been hints from the US President-elect's advisors that the settlements do no pose any obstacle to peace, a departure from the Obama administration's stance on the issue.

Richard Silverstein, a journalist and political commentator, has told Press TV that the presidency of Donald Trump would pave the way for the Israeli regime to speed up its illegal settlement activity on Palestinian territory.

He said that Trump’s presidency is going to be “a disaster” for the oppressed Palestinian people, who have already seen their lands usurped by the Tel Aviv regime.

Silverstein predicted that “in the next four years, there is going to be such a close collaboration between the US and Israel that the number of settlers is going to rise from something close to 600,000 to perhaps a million.”

He pointed out to the scale of Washington’s support for the Israeli regime, noting, “There’s already some Trump advisors who are claiming that the US Embassy in Israel will be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem [al-Quds].”

Warning of the consequences of the US-Israeli cooperation, he noted, “This would be like the Wild West for the pro-Israel forces and lobby. They would be getting everything they want from the US administration and it would be a time for even higher levels of resistance, if possible, from Palestinians and from those in the Western world who support Palestinian rights.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Silverstein said, “What’s going on here (in the occupied lands) is a battle between [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu who represents the right wing and the ministers in his government who represent the further right wing.”

He also argued that “this (division among Israeli officials) is really all theatrics,” because the Israeli regime wants to coordinate its policy with the new Trump administration. “They want to eventually annex the entire West Bank” to the previous occupied territories.

Israel has built more than 230 illegal settlements since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, including the East Jerusalem al-Quds, for more than half a million settlers.

Even though the expansionist activities are illegal under international law, Tel Aviv has increased the number of settlements over the past 20 years, with the construction of 11,000 new settler units.

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