The US will this week provide on-site passport services to a settlement in the West Bank, marking the first time that US consular officials have offered these services to settlers in the occupied territory.
Most of the world considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law on military occupation. Israel disputes this, and many on the Israeli right support annexation of the West Bank.
Palestinians have long sought the West Bank as part of a future independent state, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
This month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet approved measures that make it easier for settlers to take Palestinian land.
Tens of thousands of American-Israelis in the West Bank
US President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has said he opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank. But his administration has taken no action to halt settlement activity, which rights groups say has surged since he took office last year.
In a post on X, the US Embassy in Jerusalem said that as part of efforts to reach all Americans abroad, “consular officers will provide routine passport services in Efrat on Friday, February 27,” referring to a settlement south of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
As Reuters writes, the embassy said it will plan similar services in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem, and in cities inside Israel such as Haifa.
The United States provides passport and consular services at its embassy in Jerusalem as well as a branch office in Tel Aviv. The number of dual US-Israeli citizens living in the West Bank is estimated to be in the tens of thousands.
An embassy spokesman said: “This is the first time we have provided consular services to a settlement in the West Bank.” He added that similar services are also being provided to dual US-Palestinian citizens in the West Bank.
'De facto annexation'
Last week, the Israeli cabinet approved measures to strengthen the country's control over the West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move that Palestinians called "de facto annexation."
Most of the West Bank is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-government in some areas administered by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu's ruling coalition, which has a large voter base in the settlements, includes many members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, for which Israel cites biblical and historical links.
Efrat, the Jewish settlement where U.S. consular officials will provide passport services on Friday, is home to many American immigrants. The U.S. Embassy said it had no data on the number of Americans living there.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians. Most of the settlements are small towns surrounded by fences and protected by Israeli soldiers.
