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On November 18th, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US was softening its position on Israeli settlements.
He announced the Trump administration was reversing the Obama administration’s approach towards Israeli settlements in the West Bank. And that was because US policy statements on settlements in the area were “inconsistent.”
HINT: Transcript is available here.
Pompeo renounced a 1978 State Department legal opinion that held that civilian settlements in the occupied territories are “inconsistent with international law.”
The Trump administration considered the opinion as a basis to long-term US opposition to expanding settlements in the West Bank. Pompeo added that it was a a distraction and claimed that any legal questions about the issue should be addressed by Israeli courts.
“Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace,” Pompeo said. “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.”
Pompeo said that the U.S. would not take a position on the legality of specific settlements, that the new policy would not extend beyond the West Bank and that it would not create a precedent for other territorial disputes, he said. He apparently has forgotten that the US acknowledged the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel as legitimately belonging to Tel Aviv.
Pompeo dismissed suggestions that the decision would further isolate the U.S. or Israel in the international community, which is about to happen more than likely.
Shortly after Pompeo’s announcement, the US Embassy in Jerusalem issued an advisory warning for Americans planning to travel in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, saying, “Individuals and groups opposed to (Pompeo’s) announcement may target U.S. government facilities, U.S. private interests, and U.S. citizens.”
It called on them “to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness in light of the current environment.”
This is yet another US move that goes against Palestinian statehood efforts, including President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the movement of the US Embassy to the city, as well as closing Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington among other things.
Israeli politicians and settlement leaders expressed their approval of the US decision, calling for more annexation.
Oded Revivi, the mayor of the large settlement of Efrat and the so-called foreign minister of the Yesha settlement council umbrella group commented favorably of the announcement.
“Settlement is not a crime and it is not an obstacle to peace,” he said. He further underlined that the shift in policy was, in no small way, owed to US Ambassador David Friedman. A long-time supporter of Israeli illegal settlement.
Binyamin Regional Council chairman Yisrael Gantz called the announcement a “major step toward Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.”
“Now is the time for the Israeli government to declare the application of Israeli laws in Judea and Samaria,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed twice in 2019 to annex more land in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley – once before the April elections, and once more after the September elections.
Regarding this comment, Netanyahu had the following to say:
“The United States adopted an important policy that rights a historical wrong when the Trump administration clearly rejected the false claim that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are inherently illegal under international law,” he said.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi tweeted the following:
Settlements in occupied #Palestine are a blatant violation of Int’l law & UNSCRs. They are an illegal action that’ll kill 2-state solution. Jordan’s position in condemning them is unwavering. We warn against dangerous consequences of US change of position on settlements on MEPP
— Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) November 18, 2019
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, condemned Pompeo’s announcement and said settlements are illegal under International law.
“The U.S. administration has lost its credibility to play any future role in the peace process,” he said.
National Union leader Bezalel Smotrich indicated that the decision was sparked by last week’s European Court of Justice ruling that said products made in Israeli settlements must be labeled as such. He also mentioned that he had met aides for US Ambassador David Friedman at the time and asked them to cancel the Hansell Memorandum.
“I congratulate the US president on his correct decision… as I suggested a few days ago during my meeting with Ambassador Friedman’s staff,” Smotrich wrote. “This is certainly a worthy response to last week’s European Union court decision. We are advancing international recognition of the settlement project.”
The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal. This is based in part on the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars an occupying power from transferring parts of its own civilian population to occupied territory.
Israel rejects the position that the territories are occupied, saying they were captured from Jordan in a defensive war.
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US supports Israel unconditionally and even its brutal occupation of Palestinian land. Absolutely no one was shocked. Film at 11.
Trolls gonna cry, trolls gonna hate, but in the end the U.S and Israel are the best. It’s a good step, now Palis can no longer claim it’s not legal and their only option is to negotiate with Israel over which areas stay under us and which areas go to them. They can still have about 85% of the West Bank + Gaza, we won’t miss any of them that’s for sure.
Keep dreaming loser, the only reason your pathetic israel still even exists is because of your sugar daddy giving you whatever you want, whenever you want, and still you are too scared to fight Iran, so you try to get your sugar daddy to do all the work, you are truly pathetic
How about stopping Iranian militias from shooting rockets? because if Assad doesn’t do it, he will watch his Syria turing into a battlefield between us and Iran, that would make the Turkish invasion look small. His choice.
Like Israel is going to risk its precious conscripts in another ground war. All you guys like to do is brutalize Palestinians and lob bombs and rockets from a distance.
Why you guys think like that? the IDF has NO PROBLEM to do a ground operations, not in Gaza, not in Lebanon and not in Syria. It’s just a political question, if and when to order the IDF to launch the operation. Let me tell you as an IDF reserve, I would be happy to participate in a ground offensive if that means to end the terror threat once and for all, problem is we have a weak leder that only do half a job becuase he’s scared of the consequences. Israelis have died for this country since 1948, we are ready anytime.
All I see again and again these past years is Israeli unwillingness to take casualties. That’s how you guys lost from Hezbollah in 2006. In which the main part of that war consisted of terror bombing Lebanon. And I find it deliciously ironic that the state which was founded by terrorism and which firmly believes in might makes right acts indignant when others apply those same tactics in return. And also sad, because the Jews used to be victims, and now they are the abusers. The circle has become complete.
All you see is one man called Bibi stopping the IDf for his pure political needs, he is a traitor and we hate him. To understand more you need to dive in into Israeli politics, it’s a long story. Right now, our biggest hope is Gantz to lead the IDF against Hamas, PIJ, Hezbollah and Iran. It is not a military issue, ofcourse the IDF can wipe them all out with a very high civilian death toll on their side, it’s easy to do. When we go in, we aim for the terrorists so don’t blame us they use them as human shields because they don’t value their lives.
zionizm= evil, is that you? I used to skip your comments.
I am Zionist and I don’t consider myself evil, I consider myself a patriot that loves his country to death.
All i see is a blind lamb being led to.the slaughter house.
Beware foreign brother.
Just another mental case, nothing else.
And your death would be greatly appreciated , the sooner the better.
I got one word for you: AVIVIM!
And it will be repeated at every terrorist jew military post.
Sorry to burst your bubble but usa is in no position to support israhell. I am not really sorry, just a figure of speech.
Well they know the truth who is the problem here, Palis keep refusing to any negotiations with us. Start reading about this conflict a bit more, start with the Oslo agreements.
no they are right – no negotiations just plain friggin annihilation of all squatters in the illegal settlement called israel by some and palestine by a majority of the world’s people. and to simplify the equation include all embedded/entrenched squatters in the different societies in the process.
Hasbara troll alert!!!! Hasbara troll alert!!! My Jew-dar started going nuts when this one spewed its garbage!
then disappaer and don’t talk to me?
How can Palestinians “no longer claim it’s not legal” to push Israeli settlers into occupied Palestinian territory? Law is law even if somebody breaks or disregards the law. The entire state of Israel is illegal, guns and “might” against Palestinian civilians won’t change that.
“…arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.” WTF!!??
The U.S.A. is a state of Israel
Absolutely!!!
I’m curious what the Jews (Khazarians) sacrificed to forge the republic (former), nation of the USA? Why do they have so much sway over my nation? I don’t remember reading about any Jews leading the charge vs the British empire/Crown during the Revolutionary War. I’ve heard, however, that they were involved in the slave trade. I want to expatriate so bad. Almost becoming suicidal at this point how hopeless and lawless, evil this empire is I find myself living within. Won’t go down the nihilist or self pity road. I must not be the only one with similar sentiment? I have warrior blood and don’t wish to abandon the country which afforded me a decent life and I believe at its core is made up of good, honest people. Just seeing how it’s getting more mad with every passing day, it’s any wonder why I’m not an alcoholic or using drugs, legal or illegal. Not a fan of either. But it’s tempting to find an escape from this pain.
the problem is that as the unhinged states of A aligns itself with the neo-nazi policies of israel, the more in the opposite direction the world moves and the more precarious the squatter’s situation becomes – even to the point that extermination of these war criminals, thieves and mass-murderers will be next on the world’s agenda – the issue isn’t hard to understand but in principle the squatters have forfeited any right to exist as a sovereign country and must be terminated.
After this how can Abbas stay in power? All he has delivered is disaster after disaster.
it’s about time! great job POTUS
The fight for Palestine is only 75 years old, i will not live to see the end………but Palestine will be free.
What difference does it make what the jewy US thinks if legal or not?! Hundreds of thousands of precision missiles are still pointing at tel aviv.
The only answer to the Palestine problem at this stage of the game is the armed resistance. And so it shall be!