US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan should broaden the scope of his Israel visit to include discussions on illegal settlements, Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has told Al Jazeera.

“Jake Sullivan is there in Israel to discuss the future of Gaza, but what about the settlements expansion [in the occupied West Bank]?” he said.

“Can the Americans pressure the Israelis to freeze and stop the settlement expansions immediately now until they sort out the entire mess in the occupied Palestine?”

Qarmout said the US backing of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank would give the entity “peace dividends”, encouraging the Palestinians to support its potential governance in Gaza — but the chances of that happening is “zero”.

“What we have seen so far … Americans do the talk, but they do nothing to pressure Israel to change its political and military conduct. When it comes to the war in Gaza, they are fully committed behind Israel for eroding Hamas,” he said.