Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer, Director

Pompeo Pushes Back

Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump Administration no longer recognized a controversial legal opinion from the Carter years known as the Hansell Memorandum. The memorandum suggested that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria were illegal, and the Obama Administration relied on that memorandum when it allowed U.N. Resolution 2234 to pass the United Nations Security Council in December 2016.

In his remarks announcing the Trump Administration's position, Secretary Pompeo declared:

"The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law. . . calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn't worked. It hasn't advanced the cause of peace. . . This is a complex political problem that can only be solved by negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians."

More than 100 members of the House of Representatives objected to the administration's position and sent Secretary Pompeo a letter demanding he reverse course. Yesterday, Pompeo forcefully pushed back, and reaffirmed the administration's position that settlements are not an obstacle to peace. Here are some excerpts of the secretary's response:

"First, the State Department's determination did not reverse any policy with regard to Israeli settlements. Rather, the State Department reversed a legal determination by Secretary Kerry made during the waning days of the Obama Administration, that the establishment of settlements was categorically inconsistent with international law. . .

"Second, Secretary Kerry's determination did not enjoy bipartisan consensus. Rather, it received bipartisan condemnation. . . Indeed, an overwhelming number of Senators and House Members, on both sides of the aisle, supported resolutions objecting to the passage of UNSCR 2334. Secretary Kerry's statement departed from decades of bipartisan consensus, reverting to an approach last advanced by the Administration of President Carter in 1978 whose position was reversed by the next succeeding president, Ronald Reagan.

"While you are free to fixate on settlements as a barrier to peace, you are simply wrong in referring to that view as being subject to bipartisan agreement. No less a Democratic spokesman than the Senate Minority Leader publicly stated at his AIPAC address on March 5, 2018, that 'It's sure not the settlements that are the blockage to peace.' . . .

"US policy with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict largely has been consistent for decades and remains so: we support and seek to facilitate direct negotiations between the parties towards the goal of a just and lasting peace agreement. Regrettably, as many experts concur, UNSCR 2334 . . . saddled the Trump Administration with a significant handicap in advancing the cause of peace by erroneously injecting into the conflict an incorrect and largely irrelevant legal component. This in turn has led to the hardening of positions, especially on the Palestinian side. . .

"The Trump Administration is committed to working tirelessly to advance the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. . . The State Department's recent determination that the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se illegal is an important step in the peace process and we are confident that it creates the right platform for further progress."

CUFI Action Fund applauds Secretary of State Pompeo for his strong support for the state of Israel. Settlements, homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria, are not the primary obstacle to peace. Terrorism, whether funded by Iran or subsidized by the Palestinian Authority, and the rejection of Israel's right to exist are the main obstacles to peace.