Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Monday, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Since the administration of Jimmy Carter in the late 1970’s, the official diplomatic position of the United States government regarding the Israeli settlements in the West Bank territory has been murkey at best. The administration of Jimmy Carter first crafted policy declarations that labeled all Israeli settlements in the West Bank as being “inconsistent with international law.” President Ronald Reagan then reversed that policy during his administration, at least by proclamation. The Clinton and Bush administrations each deferred the status of settlements to the outcome of peace processes during their respective administrations, only condemning or expressing concern about the construction of new settlements. The Obama Administration followed a similar tactic for most of its term, before regressing back to the Carter Administration’s blanket condemnation of all Israeli West Bank settlements in 2016.
During a US State Department press briefing today, Secretary Mike Pompeo announced that the US policy towards Israeli settlements in the West Bank is now officially shifting once again to align with the position of the Reagan administration in the 1980’s. Once again, the the US government does not consider all Israeli settlements to be inconsistent inconsistent with international law. Secretary Pompeo cited that Israel has a credible court system for processing the legality of each settlement project, and that there is nothing in international law that specifically addresses the issue of Israeli settlements per se. Pompeo also called into question the efficacy of US policy vis-a-vis Israeli settlements, stating that a policy of condemning them had done nothing over four decades to actually advance the peace process, which has started and stalled several times since the Carter Administration.
Palestinian Authority spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudaineh condemned the policy reversal, calling it “illegal” and claiming that the Trump Administration had, ““completely lost all credibility and no longer has any role in the peace process. We hold the US administration fully responsible for the any repercussions of this dangerous position.”
The disputed territory known as the “West Bank”, named for it’s geographical position to the west of the Jordan River, is traditionally known as Judea (Latin for Judah) and Samaria, the ancient Biblical heartland of the Jewish people. There is over 3000 years of extensive and growing archaeological evidence to support Hebrew settlement in the territory. It was eventually partitioned to the Kingdom of Jordan in 1947 by the United Nations and then lost by Jordan after two attempted invasions and successive defeats by the Jewish State in 1948 and 1967. The final status of the territory has not been achieved in the half-century since then, despite repeated Israeli attempts in the 1990’s and 2000’s to grant statehood to the Arab population in the West Bank. The so-called “Two State Solution” has been largely abandoned since 2008, when the most favorable Israeli offer to the Palestinian Authority was rejected. With constitutionally-mandated elections delayed indefinitely in the PA and no change in leadership, successive Israeli governments under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have found no path forward with the peace process, choosing instead to improve relations with Arab nations in the region and to build economic infrastructure within the West Bank.
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