The White House acknowledged the deaths of 64 to 116 civilians in U.S. counterterrorism strikes over the past seven years on Friday. | Getty Images White House: Israeli settlement construction 'may not be helpful' for peace

The White House on Thursday declared that Israeli settlement construction beyond the country’s current borders “may not be helpful” in achieving peace — a statement that represented a break from President Donald Trump’s previous almost lock-step support for the polices of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“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,” said the statement from White House.


In December, Trump had attacked former President Barack Obama’s administration for not vetoing a measure at the United Nations that was critical of Israel on the issue of settlement construction. “This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis,” Trump said in a statement then.

The new position was more nuanced.

“As the President has expressed many times, he hopes to achieve peace throughout the Middle East region,” said the statement from White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month.”

Trump’s incoming ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has also previously spoken about the hot-button topic.

“There are always creative ways to allow people to live in peace. It is not always about the land. We don’t accept the idea it is only about land. Nobody really knows how many Palestinians actually live there,” Friedman told Haaretz last year.

