The timing of the approval especially infuriated the White House, American officials said, because it came after Mr. Obama met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations. Mr. Netanyahu, they said, gave the president no advance warning, even though Mr. Obama expressed deep concerns about Israel’s continuing settlement construction. Mr. Obama, officials said, has kept his own counsel about whether to thrust himself back into the peace process. Israeli authorities view the settlement as a “satellite” of another settlement, Shvut Rachel, which itself was retroactively legalized. They urged Mr. Obama to lay down his version of a road map to a peace deal.

Source: New York Times October 05, 2016 21:47 UTC