Israel increased West Bank settlement spending immediately after Trump elected

Israel went on a spending binge in its West Bank settlements following Donald Trump’s election in the US, according to newly obtained official data.
Investment on roads, schools and public buildings in the territory increased 39 per cent in 2017, prompting suggestions Mr Trump’s presidency had emboldened Israel’s pro-settler government.

Both supporters and opponents of the settler movement have previously referred to a "Trump effect” – with claims the president's friendlier approach to settlements is paving the way for additional West Bank construction.
The new figures – obtained by the Associated Press in a freedom of information request – appear to provide evidence of this impact, although they do not prove a direct connection.

Hagit Ofran, a researcher with the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now, said Israel’s government was “not shy anymore with what they are doing”.
“They feel more free to do whatever they want,” she added.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, offered even sharper criticism.

"This proves that the current US administration encouraged settlement activities," he said.
Since capturing the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has settled some 700,000 of its citizens in the two areas, which are considered occupied territory by most of the world.
The international community has protested that Israel moving people into settlements in those territories is both illegal and a deliberate obstacle to any future Palestinian state.

The Palestinians, who claim both the West Bank and east Jerusalem as parts of their future state, consider the settlements illegal land grabs. Scores of fast-growing settlements control strategic hilltops and swaths of the West Bank, making it increasingly difficult to partition the territory.
For decades, the US had joined much of the international community in expressing concern over the settlements while doing little to halt their construction.
But since taking office, Mr Trump, whose inner circle of Middle East advisers have longstanding ties to the settler movement, has taken a different approach. The White House has urged restraint but refrained from the blanket condemnations of its Republican and Democratic predecessors.

"The Trump administration is undoubtedly the most friendly American administration of all time," said Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settlers' council.