US envoy urges tighter business ties between Israeli settlers and Palestinians
Call angers Palestinian leaders, who see this as an attempt to normalise the occupation of the West Bank and other areas
Jerusalem — The US ambassador to Israel on Thursday urged deeper business ties between Israeli settlers and Palestinian businesspeople in the occupied West Bank, angering Palestinian leaders. David Friedman, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump, was speaking in Jerusalem at a forum to encourage business links between Israeli settlements and Palestinians. “There are many, many Palestinians that would like to be freed up to engage in business ventures with Israelis, and they’re entitled to that opportunity,” Friedman told Reuters at the two-day forum attended by Israeli government officials, international businesspeople and a handful of Palestinians. Friedman’s remarks were immediately attacked by Palestinian officials as encouraging settlement activity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, territory captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek as part of a future state. “This constitutes a stab in the back of the Palestinian people,” said Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of t...
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