'A new era': West Bank settlement celebrates Trump ties

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called his recent meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump “historic” and a “new day” in Israeli-American relations. But despite publicly urging Netanyahu to slow down West Bank settlement construction, Trump and some members of his team are invested in at least one of them: the tiny religious community of Beit El.

In Hebrew, Beit El means “House of God.” The first Jewish settlers arrived here in 1977, seizing Palestinian land and setting up a religious colony deep in the occupied West Bank. Since then, Beit El has become a richly-endowed outpost for biblical studies, and now, Trump has come into their lives as something of an answered prayer.

“Not only President Trump, but the people in his administration are known as supporters of the settlements,” Jewish settler Hagi Ben Artzi told CTV News.

Trump’s foundation once gave $10,000 to the community while the family of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has donated generously.

There’s also another connection between the Trump camp and the community: David Friedman, Trump’s controversial pick to be America’s next ambassador to Israel. The ‘Friedman’ name adorns numerous educational projects in Beit El. Friedman, critics say, is more right-wing than the Israeli government.

Under previous U.S. administrations, diplomats were not even allowed to set foot in settlements such as these. Now, in Beit El, the talk is about old friends in high places and a potential building boom across the West Bank.                                                                                                                                                           

“I think doors are open,” Chaim Silberstein, a Beit El municipal councillor, told CTV News. “We definitely need the support, or the passive support, of the American administration.”

Beit El’s defining landmark is the Stone of Jacob, which is revered as the place where the Israelite patriarch dreamed of a stairway to heaven.

These days, Ben Artzi dreams of filling the West Bank with Jewish settlers like himself.

“We believe that we begin a new era of four, or maybe eight good years, in which at least the normal development will be possible,” he said.

With a report from CTV News London Bureau Chief Paul Workman

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  In Hebrew, Beit El means “House of God.” The first Jewish settlers arrived here in 1977, seizing Palestinian land and setting up a religious colony deep in the occupied West Bank.