[Mike Pompeo rolls back decades of policy and disregards
international law in bombshell statement] [[link removed]]

'A THREAT TO GLOBAL STABILITY': US DENIES ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ILLEGAL
 
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Middle East Staff
November 18, 2019
Middle East Eye
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_ Mike Pompeo rolls back decades of policy and disregards
international law in bombshell statement _

The Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev is near the Palestinian city of
Ramallah in the occupied West Bank , AFP/File photo

 

The United States' announcement that Israel's settlements in the
occupied West Bank are not "inconsistent with international law" has
been met with widespread derision and rejection, with one Palestinian
leader calling it "a threat to global stability, security, and
peace".

On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump
administration believes "that what we've done today has recognised the
reality on the ground", rolling back decades of policy in Washington

"The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se,
inconsistent with international law," Pompeo told reporters.

The move throws out a 1978 State Department legal opinion that stated
that Israeli settlements violate international law. Written by
then-State Department legal adviser Herbert Hansell, the 41-year-old
legal opinion
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has long been the basis of US policy towards Israeli settlements.

Hansell said at the time that Israel was "a belligerent occupant" of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula
and Syrian Golan Heights.

Pompeo's announcement comes after a series of staunchly pro-Israel
measures taken by US President Donald Trump since he came into office,
including a contentious decision
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to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump also recognised
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hold on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights in March, a move that drew
international criticism and raised fears that the US administration
would green-light Israel's annexation of the occupied Palestinian
territories.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which the US is a signatory, an
occupying power cannot move its civilian population into territory it
occupies.

There are approximately 200
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settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with
around 620,000 residents, according to Israeli human rights group
B'Tselem.

The group said
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the Trump administration's "farcical announcement doesn't just
green-light Israel's illegal settlement project, but also other human
rights violations around the world by obliterating the principles of
international law".

The move also pushes "the world over 70 years backwards", B'Tselem
said.

'Irresponsible'

Palestinians also slammed the Trump administration's announcement,
with lawmaker and longtime senior diplomat Saeb Erekat calling the
move "irresponsible" and "a threat to global stability, security, and
peace".

"Once again, with this announcement, the Trump administration is
demonstrating the extent to which it's [threatening] the international
system," Erekat said in a statement.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch,
tweeted that the decision "changes nothing", however.

"Trump can't wipe away decades of established international law by
decree," Shakir said.

Israel's settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories
amount to a violation of international humanitarian law
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human rights groups have widely documented.

"Israel’s long-running policy of settling civilians in occupied
territory is considered a war crime under the statute of the
International Criminal Court," Amnesty International has also said
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"That this is predictable doesn't make it any less infuriating," added
Omar Baddar, deputy director of the Arab American Institute, a
Washington-based advocacy group.

Baddar said "it would be more honest" for the Trump administration to
"announce that they consider Israel to be above the law and be done".

US Senator Bernie Sanders, who is vying for the Democratic Party's
2020 nomination, also spoke out against the decision on Monday.
"Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal," he tweeted.

"This is clear from international law and multiple United Nations
resolutions. Once again, Mr. Trump is isolating the United States and
undermining diplomacy by pandering to his extremist base."

Israel welcomes the move

Israeli officials welcomed the announcement, with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office calling it "an important policy
that rights a historical wrong".

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also said the decision made it
clear that "there is no dispute about the right of the Jewish people
to the Land of Israel".

"I would like to thank the Trump administration for its consistent and
steadfast support of Israel and its commitment to furthering relations
between the peoples of the region and creating a prosperous and stable
Middle East," Katz said.

Netanyahu failed to form a majority government after
September elections in Israel, ceding the way to rival Benny
Gantz to attempt to cobble together a coalition. If Gantz succeeds,
Netanyahu will have to step down from his post as prime minister

Rabbi Alissa Wise, acting co-executive director of Jewish Voice for
Peace, said the US's settlement announcement aims to shore up
political support for both Netanyahu and Trump, who is up for
re-election in 2020.

"The Trump administration was never focused on promoting peace, but
instead on propping up Netanyahu's and Trump's careers and
perpetuating Israeli control and dominance over Palestinian land and
lives at all costs," Wise said in a statement.

"Pompeo and the Trump administration don't get to rewrite
international law."

The European Union also shot back at the US, saying in a statement
that its position on Israeli settlements "is clear and remains
unchanged".

"All settlement activity is illegal under international law and it
erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a
lasting peace," it said.

The EU also called on Israel "to end all settlement activity, in line
with its obligations as an occupying power".

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