Turn, the US gave Netanyahu a shoulder against the UN

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Turn, the US gave Netanyahu a shoulder against the UN

 

The United States no longer claims that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are illegal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

The statement puts the White House at odds with almost all countries and resolutions of the UN Security Council, and comes amid attempts by centrist Benny Ganz to form a government to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of President Donald Trump.

"After careful study of all sides of the legal debate," Pompeo told reporters, the US concluded that "the creation of Israeli civilian settlements on the West Bank does not in itself contravene international law."

"Defining the creation of civilian settlements in contravention of international law is not working. This does not lead to any progress in the cause of peace," Pompeo said.

So far, US policy has been based, at least in theory, on a legal opinion issued by the Department of State in 1978, which says that the creation of settlements in the Palestinian territories, taken a decade earlier than Israel, is contrary to international law.

The Fourth Geneva Convention expressly prohibits the settlement of civilians in occupied territories.

While the United States as a whole always vetoes Security Council measures critical of Israel, former President Barack Obama, outraged by Netanyahu, has allowed the passage of Resolution 2334 in recent weeks, calling the Israeli settlements in the West Bank harsh violation of international law.