Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration would ease its stance on U.S. policy toward Israel, rejecting a 1978 State Department legal opinion that categorically calls Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank 'inconsistent with international law'
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that the Trump administration would ease its stance on U.S. policy toward Israel, rejecting a 1978 State Department legal opinion that categorically calls Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank "inconsistent with international law."
In an address at the State Department, Pompeo stated that the decision, which is a major boon to Israel and is sure to spark outrage from Palestinians, was not made lightly.
"Subsequent administrations recognize that unrestrained settlement activity could be an obstacle to peace," he noted, pointing to the Obama administration move as a departure from that stance. But the shift is also a contrast with the position taken by the rest of the international community.that member states must begin identifying products made in Israeli settlements by labeling them as such, a decision the State Department called deeply concerning.
Monday’s announcement is a welcome development for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting for political survival after being unable to form a coalition government following two elections this year and facing legal issues. "It just shows that this administration is completely out of step with where the international community is and with where our own policy consistently since 1967 has been," said Gerald Feierstein, a former senior State Department official who dealt with Middle East issues. "The reality is that the settlements are a clear violation of international law and nobody else in the world is going to be influenced by a statement to the contrary.
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