Biden said ignoring Israeli PM’s request for phone call amid frustrations over settlement construction

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli occupation Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had requested a telephone call with US President Joe Biden some three weeks ago, but had yet to receive an answer, Israeli media reported.

Israeli Channel 13 said Bennett was eager to talk to Biden amid the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran, however, the US ignored the request, apparently over growing frustrations with illegal Israeli settlement construction.

The Israeli occupation PM’s office downplayed the incident, claiming that the idea of a conversation had been raised in talks with US officials, but no formal request had been submitted to the White House.

On Tuesday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held talks with Israeli occupation President Isaac Herzog, his first meeting on a three-day trip to the region.

There was no mention of the tensions or discussions about the illegal settlements in a statement from the occupation President’s office after the meeting.

Earlier this month, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken initiated a phone call with Bennett to express his dismay over Israeli plans to advance a controversial East Jerusalem illegal settlement project.

Blinken “strongly emphasized that Israel and the Palestinian Authority should refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution, including advancing settlement activity,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in describing the conversation.

The Israeli planning and construction committee of the Municipality of occupied Jerusalem approved a plan to construct a new settlement in north Jerusalem on a land plot occupied by an abandoned international airport built during the British Mandate.

‘Israel’ used the airport in ‘Atarot’, located near the Palestinian village of Qalandia, as a military airbase before permanently shutting it down in the wake of the Second Intifada in 2000.

The new settlement included the construction of over one thousand units, hotels, public infrastructure, and commercial areas. 1200 dunums of Palestinian lands will be used for the project.

According to Israeli media claims, Bennett told Blinken the project was just at the planning stage.

Peace Now, an Israeli rights group, said in a statement that “this is a very dangerous plan which might bring a dangerous blow to the two-state solution.”

It added that the planned settlement project in Atarot “is at the heart of the urban territorial Palestinian continuity between Ramallah and East Jerusalem, and thus prevents the possibility of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The government must remove the plan from the agenda immediately and shelve it.”

Moreover, 26 House Democrats urged Blinken to pressure the Israeli Occupation government to prevent the planned settlement project, highlighting how settlements entrench the occupation, undermine the prospects of a two-state solution, diminish the viability of a Palestinian state, and represent a violation of international law.