US ambassador meets illegal Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Betul Yilmaz

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) – US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Wednesday met with illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli media.

Following his arrival in Israel last month, Huckabee has now conducted a “first-of-its-kind” “historical tour” of an ancient site in the central West Bank, newspaper Israel Hayom said.

Later, the US diplomat met with the council of settlements in the West Bank and the Binyamin Regional Council.

Wednesday’s meeting was the first between a US ambassador and the representative council of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

US diplomats often refrain from visiting the West Bank, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war and is still seen as occupied land.

Huckabee, a former Baptist minister who was confirmed as US ambassador to Israel last month, had previously made controversial statements about Palestinians in the occupied territories.

“There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” he said while running for president in 2008. “That’s been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”

He reiterated his stance in 2015 during an interview with Israeli television, calling the two-state solution “irrational and unworkable.”

According to Palestinian figures, at least 770,000 illegal Israeli settlers are living in the occupied West Bank across 180 settlements and 256 settler outposts.

Data from the official Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission showed that illegal Israeli settlers carried out 860 assaults on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in the first quarter of 2025.

Nearly 960 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.