Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE UNITED STATES has announced that it will no longer consider Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, marking a major shift in the country’s foreign policy.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the change in position on Monday, saying the US would overturn a decades-long position that settlements in the occupied West Bank violate international law.
“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees… [that the] establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law,” Pompeo said.
Until now, US policy was based on a legal opinion issued by the State Department in 1978, which said that establishing of settlements in the Palestinian territories went against international law.
The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal, based in part on the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids occupying powers from transferring parts of their own civilian population to an occupied territory.
However, the Trump administration views the opinion as a distraction and believes any legal questions about the issue should be addressed by Israeli courts, according to a draft of Pompeo’s remarks on the policy obtained by The Associated Press.
“Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace,” Pompeo says in the draft.
“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.”
It follows previous moves by the US administration that have weakened Palestinian efforts to achieve statehood, including Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US Embassy there.
And although the decision is largely symbolic, it could give a boost to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political survival after he was unable to form a coalition government following recent elections.
It could also spell further trouble for the administration’s oft-promised peace plan, which is unlikely to gather much international support by endorsing a position contrary to the global consensus.
European Court of Justice ruling
Israel was dealt a blow on settlements just last week when the European Court of Justice ruled products made in Israeli settlements must be labeled as such.
Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in occupied Palestinian territories which are claimed by the latter for their state.
Israel has never annexed the West Bank, even as it has dotted the territory with scores of settlements and tiny settlement outposts.
While claiming the fate of the settlements is a subject for negotiations, it has steadily expanded them.
Palestinians and most of the world say the settlements undermine hopes for a two-state solution by encroaching on land sought by the Palestinians.
Israel’s settlement activities have also drawn attention to its treatment of Palestinians.
While Jewish settlers can freely enter Israel and vote in Israeli elections, West Bank Palestinians are subject to Israeli military law, require permits to enter Israel and do not have the right to vote in Israeli elections.
With reporting from - © AFP 2019
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Yep, do all you can to help Israel walk all over the Palestinians. Typical of Trump
@Declan Moran:
Typical of all US Presidents
@Declan Moran: What a leader. Makes his own mind up and doesnt mind the sheep.
@Gigi: any law which constrains Trump and his clique is a distraction to be ignored.
@Isthatright: yes, very true
@Isthatright: typical of all us politicians and public institutions. This reminds me of Genie Oils history in Isreal. Check the page below, the actions of the company in Israel Occupied Golan Heights and make sure to read the list of board of directors: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_Energy
@Declan Moran: where is my comment gone?
@Declan Moran: Simply put, America’s long-standing attempt into alignment with prophecy in that the descendants of Abraham would never be erased from this world, although many before and after hitler would try to deny a pocket of land the size of Wales to his offspring it will not be allowed. America seems to get this not without understanding that Ishmael is also an heir under Abraham and also has a prophetic inheritance in prophecy, but just not in that little stretch of dust
@Gigi: The Wolf cares not how many sheep there are…
Absolutely disgraceful. How can there ever be peace in Israel and Palestine with these settlements literally standing in the way? This is a major step backwards.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: you’re one of the people I referred to when I spoke on cowards who hide without putting there face to statements. Number 1, I support an Israeli state, I also support the idea of a Palestinian state. I’m a racist because I believe israel has a right to exist?
Number 2, the issue with land on the West Bank is highly disputed and I’ve never given my opinion on it so how is this even related?
I hardly comment on here anymore because of this hahahahaha
Ok. So I can now decide with a group of like minded people to build settlements in good olde USA grabbing land wherever I wanted to ensure the dilution of the indigenous American mark 2 ( the mark1s no longer exist in any great numbers). And it wouldn’t be illegal. Is anyone tempted?
@Nigel Barlow: I must admit I’ve had my eye on a few bits of land around Central Park in New York and a beach house in Malibu so count me in.
Of course if anyone criticises my actions I’ll call them anti-Christian and remind them of the Irish Famine. That should shut them up.
@Nigel Barlow: The land of the insane!! Na let them have it how about a sunny island free of yanks! Just stroll in tell them my God used to live there 5000 years ago bla bla bla.. something along them lines and I’m in..
@Nigel Barlow: Great idea! And the first settlement could be on Trump’s own golf resort in Ireland!
The USA of today is a terrible blight on the world. Entire nations and regions have been destroyed to satisfy their geopolitical aims. It believes that, in the fullness of time, the USA will be outed for its blatant terrorism and destruction.
@The Oracle: Big election coming up in America.
Remember folks… boycott! If enough of us support BDS, we’ll get their attention.
@Ooby Dooby: Both sides need to be pressured into negotiations and necessary concessions to reach a long term peaceful solution. The BDS movement, as distinct from the tactics in its title, is not interested in a just solution but rather is just against Israel as a state.
@Stephen Kearon:
Stupid comment.. Go spend time in the occupied territories maybe you’d get it..
@Wreck Tangle: perhaps go spend time and learn your history, such as Kristallnacht which occurred 81 years ago this month, maybe you’ll get it. Also why not post under your real name
@Stephen Kearon: The comparison you drew was stupid, wrecktangle was right, it was a false equivalence. What happened the Jews in Germany in the 30s and 40s was horrific and disgusting but that cannot be used as a defence of the actions of the state of Isreal today. The Holocause was not a result of people boycotting Jewish businesses in the 30s, both those stemmed from the dehumanisation and demonising of the Jews, a bit like how Palestinians are dehumanised and demonised today. You’re right about history repeating itself, just not in the way you believe it is happening.
@Stephen Kearon: Godwin’s.
@Ooby Dooby: No thanks when Hamas lay down their weapons for good i will think about it . I am NO fan of Israel .
This is disgusting and how we stand by and let the USA and Israel away with all this we need to boycott
@George O’Connell: brexit is the way. No trade agreement with USA or Israel. UK can impose wto tariffs. Right every country should pull out of the eu!!!!
A despicable rogue nation protecting another despicable rogue nation.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: Boycotting Israel will not be without consequences. It may result in many foreign firms based in Ireland having to move their operations to other countries if it is illegal for American firms to boycott Israel or to do business with those who do.
@Mary’s Abbey: he’s not really interested in that anyway, Mary. He just doesn’t like Jewish people. He has no problems with the murder of Kurds, Uighurs, Tibetans, Greeks, Assyrians, Yazidis, etc.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: You’re not wrong!
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: ” A despicable rogue nation protecting another despicable rogue nation ” and next door its neighbour is a Hamas terrorist state .
@Robert Preston: Do you know why the Palestinians are fighting with Israel?
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: lol the anti-Jewish card. Good man Brian. So much for “I always condemn Israel”. Even your apologies are desperate.
USA – taking itself more backward in world peace efforts by the months.
Israeli apartheid regime must be paying trump and his cronies !
@Clinton Slowey: precisely how is Israel an apartheid state? All Israeli citizens, whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Atheist etc have same rights, travel on same buses, can access same schools, colleges etc? Serve in Parliament together with free and open elections where all citizens can vote.
@Stephen Kearon: if you need
Me to tell you that then your obviously deluded !!!! BDS
@Clinton Slowey: translation – you are unable to point to a single piece of evidence to backup your factually false post, but lack the balls to admit that
@Stephen Kearon: BDS FREE PALESTINE
@Stephen Kearon: Israelis don’t throw gay people off roofs nor tie them to the backs of motorbikes and then drag them along through the streets.
That is absolutely reprehensible.
He is playing to his base. Part of the Evangelical belief is that for The Second Coming, Israel must be delivered up complete.
Google Pat Robertson for more info.
Another example of the evil of Trump’s administration.
Absolute bar stewards
Sad and vicious descion..
Totally immoral and disgusting by the USA
Surprise feckin surprise
Censorship alive and well on the Journal again I see.
Surprise surprise
Unlikely to help matters…
Disgusting
No one who even loosely follows the situation in Israel/Palestine should be shocked at this. Trump is just making official the continued stance both democrats and republicans have had towards the region. The last American President to even pretend to be harsh with Israel was George H Bush. It’s disgusting but it’s not new. It’s just now official.
My gut feeling is that the Israeli state is stacking up serious demerits with its policy of planting settlements & sequestering property in Palestine outside of their 1948 borders. The disruptive wars, civil & invasive,will not go on forever, & whenever US interests in the area shift elsewhere, probably when the oil runs out, Israel will likely have to come to peace terms with its neighbours. Please note that Russia has already established substantial interest in a few Arab states surrounding Israel, so a power shift is already evident. The Israelis would be better advised to reach out to the Palestinians now, & defuse the powder keg they have created by expelling the native population,destroying their homes, subjugating Gaza,& diminishing the international support they have had post 1945.
US foreign policy is now essentially “might makes right’. There is no longer any international law. It’s everyone for themselves.
who can say they were really shocked by the US decision or should I say the Trump decision?
Two war mongering countries pretending they want peace and justice. Peace without justice is a lot easier to achieve when you have military might – as the Nazis once displayed.
have your say