It may be argued that every square inch of Israeli territory is land stolen from the Palestinian people. However that may be I dare say that said stolen land will not be returned to the Palestinians anymore than the North American continent will be returned to the Indians. The outrageous Israeli settlements on what remains of Palestinian territory , however, is another story. They are a cancerous sore on the underbelly of the Middle East and must be removed as their continued presence further exasperates Israeli/Arab relations. Henry IV remarked that "Paris is worth a Mass" and it might be said that removal of the invading Israeli settlers on Palestinian lands is worth , at least the beginnings, of a peaceful settlement between Israel and Palestine. There is no question that it make any possible settlement worse.
7
It's time for the US to withdraw all support for financial and military expenses from Israel. With a policy that Israel can do whatever it wants, let them make their own decisions and pay for them. They don't need our welfare safety net anymore.
113
@Maine Islands
Wonder why some advocate only withdrawal of Israeli support when the U.S. gives support to many regimes that are much less democratic.
Certainly the Palestinian issue is complex but the Jewish state still needs assistance. There is still too much anti-semitism to do otherwise.
14
@Maine Islands When the USA gives $ to Israel, it is effectively a subsidy to USA weapons industry. Except Israel makes billions of dollars of improvements and testing, so its a subsidy AND an investment.
9
@Maine Islands Major Gen George Keegan, Jr., former head of USAF Intelligence, said, "Between 1974 and 1990, Israel received $18.3 billion in US military grants. During the same period Israel provided the US with $50 - 80 billion in intelligence, research and development, and Soviet weapons systems captured and transferred to the US."
12
Saying that the settlements are legal because they reflect conditions on the ground is nonsensical and has no basis in international law. Rather, the oldest source of international law has been state practice or custom. And the custom has been to deny a state's ability to acquire territory through aggression.
If I were president of Mexico, I would be very worried. I'm not, but am still worried.
Trump, and now Pompeo, are a threat to the peace and world order.
371
@Chrisinauburn I am not a supporter of Trump or his decision but to state "deny a state's ability to acquire territory through aggression."is absurd. Open a history book and learn about the Greeks, the Roman, the Turk (yes, they are not native to Turkey), Americans... should I continue. So the line is drawn in 1948? When you start a war, you might lose territory. Just ask your German friends...
13
@Chrisinauburn
That argument justifies any invasion, provided it was succesful.
It ignores lesson nunber 1 of both science and ethics: the distintion between "be" and "must be".
I´m not the president of Mexico either, and I am also worried.
6
@Chrisinauburn
Territory captured in a defensive action is considered legitimate under international law.
12
"'It sends a clear signal that they have total disregard for international law...'"
The UN voted to recognize Israel in 1948. Does that count as International Law? Or does International Law only matter when it can be used against Israel.
4
Does he still expect the U.S. to be recognized for moral authority in the world? Declaring, contrary to what most of the other 192 members of the U.N. accept, that annexation by force is OK. Human rights, justice, fairness, ethics, all flushed away by this incompetent puppet.
8
In 1967, the international community did not recognize the west Bank as being part of Jordan. The transfer of control of the West Bank to Israel, after an Israeli victory in a defensive war, does not meet the definition of occupation. In addition, the Oslo accords are clear about non-prejudicial determinations regarding negotiation outcomes. Declarations about the "illegality" of now permanent cities by any party is a violation of the Oslo Accords. At no time has the presence of Israelis in the West Bank been formally recognized as illegal.
5
Trump’s on his way out. Don’t take anything his Secretary of State says literally.
2
I cannot believe how racist these remarks are about Palestinians. So many are completely ignorant , or know and won’t say, what goes on to build these settlements. A conservative settler hero is imprisoned for killing Rabin, the one man who tried for peace and humanity. Many settlers worship this man.
I’m the film the gatekeepers it’s very clear the settlements have been the biggest impediment to peace. Look at the map, look at the open air prisons.
Where is your humanity?
6
And the Trump Physics Department will announce that its research has demonstrated that up is really down, wet is dry, and hot is cold.
1
"Mr. Pompeo said, the issue must be solved by the Israelis and the Palestinians." Really? That's the same argument Republicans give to solve the ongoing trump disaster in America - vote him out in the Republican-Russian corrupted 2020 elections. Indeed, Palestinians and Americans have to rely on a corrupted process to get relief. The trump is even resorting to meddling in Israel's own elections a la Putin. How trumpian.
Unless Gantz objects to this horrible move by trump, it should not disadvantage Gantz - it benefits him and Bibi equally, given the dogmatic selfishness of expanding Israel's territory by all means necessary at Palestinian expense.
"... a move that could destroy peace efforts with Palestinians." I guess this is the best Jared could come up with after three years. Obviously trump and Jared and Pompeo and Miller et al are all avowed ENEMIES of the Palestinian people, the Kurds, the Ukrainians, the Mexicans, ... All trump is doing is advancing the cause of inhumanity worldwide.
Go figure, an illegitimate government - trump's - giving away more land that isn't his to give to an illegitimate country.
Why would anyone believe a discredited Irangate President, Mr. Trickle-Down himself, on the legality of stolen lands?
History? Bibi is ensuring Israel's place in history as yet another primitive pariah nation.
3
"The Trump administration’s peace effort is run by Jared Kushner" .... this statement says all: a real-estate developer - son of a convicted felon for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering - advising on US international policy. What can go wrong?
10
One can only agree with the Palestinian response below and add this: not only do Trump, Pompeo and ilk have total disregard for international law, they also have similar disregard for the national laws of the United States.
As you are aware, the majority of US citizens is presently involved in an attempt to get rid of these unscrupulous lawbreakers. Please wish us success.
You know that the majority of US voters are against this horrible Trump/Pompeo decision and that it will be reversed when this administration is gone.
Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestine Liberation Organization official. “It sends a clear signal that they have total disregard for international law, for what is right and just, and for the requirements of peace.”
And Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the Trump administration’s decision was the latest of “unceasing attempts to replace international law with the ‘law of the jungle.’”
6
@sing75 Evidence that all settlements are in violation of international law? Be specific. Which law? Please provide a quote showing exactly what you think is being violated by settlements.
3
I have to admit, I was too complacent about Trump, but these 3 things have me deeply concerned:
-His interference with a university curriculum
-His desire to roll-back emission standards in Calif.
-And, now this...
He is likely a sociopath and we need to remove him or do everything we can to prevent re-election.
7
Well if the US can steal oil from Syria, a country it has decimated, then I guess it can also change International law and allow Israel to steal land i the West Bank
5
Let’s stop pretending that Jordan...a sovereign Arab state... doesn’t already occupy approximately 80% of the territory that was historic Palestine. It’s the de facto Arab Palestinian state...and they walked away with the biggest piece of the territorial pie.
So why are Arabs entitled to yet another ‘Palestinian’ state carved out of the heart of what is undeniably the historic, ancestral homeland of the Jews?
11
Every day, another gift to some group of voters: Vapers. Those supporters of the military who believe that the three men he pardoned were badly treated. Yesterday, right-wing Jews and Fundamentalists. Today, who knows?
Beware the day that he no longer must court voters. Then, for spite or amusement, he will be unrestrained.
VOTE!
With foreboding--Harriet
4
Peace efforts were doomed long ago by Palestinian terror campaigns. Palestinianism is an annhilationist movement first and a nationalist one second. Yet, it remains an article of faith on the left, that just then right Israeli concession will somehow cause the Magical Mystery Palestinian Partner for Peace to come forth like so many unicorned tooth ferries. Would you bet your life on that proposition?
As for the settlements, why can't a future "Palestine" not have a single Jew in it?
10
Can we say naked appeal for Jewish votes?
Are there really any Jews who weren't for Trump for the thousands of good reasons to oppose him who will be convinced by this miscarriage of justice?
Not this one.
4
@cary
This was said somewhere else and makes sense to me. Trump's action is not so much an appeal to Jewish votes as an attempt to further fracture the Jewish vote in the democratic party. Many American Jews see the Democrat far left as great a danger to Israel and Jews around the world (including the U.S.) as that of the far right.
2
The timing of this announcement is suspect. It is made while Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s main opponent, is engaged in mustering a majority in parliament to form a government. He has only until Wednesday to do it.
If he doesn’t succeed, it's possible that the Israeli president gives Netanyahu another chance to try. He failed in his previous attempts because even his ultra-rightist and Orthodox-Jewish constituency fully support him. In the wake of the present announcement ignoring international condemnation of Netanyahu's West Bank annexation plan, those in his constituency who did not support him before may rally behind him, enabling him to become PM again.
If that doesn't happen now, a third election is a sure thing. In that case, the whole-hearted Trump support for Netanyahu's West Bank annexation plan may encourage more right-wing Israelis to vote for him. That is, in either eventuality, the Pompeo proclamation would help Netanyahu. Another term for him as PM will mark the death the two-state solution plan to end the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Are there no Israelis who can see the danger that lies ahead? Isn’t Netanyahu's vow to annex the entire West Bank the surest way of creating a fifth column within their state? They may bear in mind that both Trump and Netanyahu are passing phenomena. It's Israelis who will have to live with the consequences of whom they support for prime minister at this critical juncture in their country's history.
2
Trump is desperate to deflect the conversation and crowd out the news about his impeachment. Expect more decisions like this to muddy the opinion waters.
3
The sad reality is that there was no peace before the 1967 war when there were no settlements. The settlements are a red herring. The so-called Palestinians (who are Arabs, just like most of people in the surrounding states) refuse to accept the existence of the state of Israel. if they did, they would have had their state in 1948, and much bloodshed on both sides would not have happened. If the Palestinians eschew violence once and for all, there will be peace, and Israel will trade settlements for peace. Not before. Look at Gaza and see what has happened when the Israelis left and withdrew all the settlers. Utter chaos and violence.
11
If the Palestinian governments were actually interested in peace, there would be peace.
11
“I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (2001)
8
Yet more evidence that the current Trump administration appears to be 100% owned by Israel.
12
"Advance the cause of peace", "pay attention to history", "secretive Trump administration plan to revive peace negotiations"--this article's context for these phrases is indicative of the unreality of "The Great Divider" Trump's policies. This administration patently knows nothing about the nature of peace, doesn't attend to real history, and cannot (by its absence of efforts) do anything to promote real peace.
What Israel needs is tough love, saying no to settlements and to any unilateral provocative efforts to assert the selfish interests of one side. What US policy needs in addition is balance and a view of international law not based upon naked illegitimate views of allies' interests but upon the actual practice of law. My hope is that this US decision will push international support for Palestinian statehood to the point of declaration of most of the West Bank as its true homeland.
5
This was obviously a politicized decision for many reasons. In the domestic sense, it will remind American supporters of Israel that a radical left Democratic administration full of apologists for the Palestinians could pose an existential threat to the country. As far as the peace process goes though, why are we always told a Trump administration decision endangers what doesn't exist anyway? When President Obama quietly chose not to waste any more of his time on the supposed two-state solution, no one in the press wrung their hands over that! The two-state solution has been a non-starter for a long time now, and it is to the Trump administration's credit that they are trying to move beyond it.
4
Of course -- facts on the ground. Like Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
4
Trump is purposely inciting the world to distract from his impeachment. A colonel in the Israeli army told me personally that the Israeli's had an opportunity after the Six Day War in 1967 to make peace in the region, primarily with the Palestinians; to be the "adults in the room". But instead the Israeli's chose OCCUPATION, land grabbing, destruction of Palestinian farms and olive groves, bombing and bulldozing their homes and the continued building of illegal settlements. Think for one minute if the U.S. was still occupying any part of Germany or Japan as the Israeli's have in Palestine for 52 years and counting! Hamas and Hezzbollah were formed in the mid-1980's by the children from the beginning of the occupation. What would we do to an occupying force in this country? Hopefully, the international community will still fight for justice in spite of Trump's continued cozying up to autocrats as he pals around with Netanyahu, another leader under a criminal investigation. This does nothing but endanger America's security.
4
@sunburst68 Which colonel? What opportunity to make peace with the Palestinians? What did the Palestinians agree to? Why haven't I heard about this before?
4
International law. Exactly what are those oft repeated, but never defined, international laws that pertain to the Israeli presence in the West bank? Forget Gaza, it is not occupied by Israel, even if Israel, legally (and Egypt) curtail the movement of people and goods in and out of that place.
So, please, would these journalists spell out the alleged laws that Israel is breaking? The origin of these laws, and how international law scholars sometimes incorrectly define, and tweak them, to suit their own personal agendas?
Do not quote General Assembly resolutions, as they have no legal standing. Please, once and for all, let the NYT, WSJ, or any longstanding paper research and explain all the legalities pertaining to Israel, the Palestinians, and the status of the land, including pre-67 Israel. Just do it.
8
International law? There is no higher law than King trump. Just ask him, he'll set you straight. Look forward to a stream of thuggery in the next year. Just in case he doesn't manage to steal a second term.
4
Another horrible move by Trump, overturning 4 decades of U.S. policy to help his buddy, Bibi. Netanyahu's plan to annex much of the West Bank, in addition to violating international law, would be a disaster for Israeli democracy They would either have to make West Bank residents citizens, in which case Arabs might outnumber Jews, or Israel would in fact become an apartheid state.
While conservative Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews will mostly support Trump, I'm sure a majority of American Jews thoroughly disapprove of Trump's latest display of doing whatever he thinks benefits him politically, as opposed to what is right or in our national interest. In the past, the U.S. could claim to act as an impartial mediator (like Jimmy Carter) who might actually help bring about peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. No longer.
8
Unfortunately step into the wrong direction. Land grab is in other parts of the world plainly "Land Theft". Feel sorry for the moderate Israelis who would probably never see peace because of the greed of some few.
6
@Peter Simon On Dec. 2, 1947, just days after the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to partition historic Palestine into Jewish and Arab-ruled sections, the Ulama or chief scholars of Sunni Islam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo– the leading university of the Arab World– issued a fatwa calling on the world’s Muslims to launch a Jihad to destroy the incipient Jewish state. It was reiterated by the Ulama, in April 1948, days before the Egyptian Army and three other Arab armies attacked Palestine, giving the campaign a “religious imprimatur.” The fatwa was reissued later that year.
“It was clear the Arabs had lost the war,” Morris said, but reissuing the Fatwa signaled it was meant “to stand for future years, for future generations...
http://www.theseniortimes.com/1948-was-a-holy-war-for-arabs-historian-says/
As long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (85% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.
5
You Must Follow International Law (Unless You’re America). Funny how Uncle Sam keeps criticizing other countries for violating international law, while itself not honoring UN resolution.
We'll see how this shift "promotes peace".
7
Following Mr. Pompeo’s logic regarding the settlements, for expediency’s sake let’s end the impeachment hearings and simply remove Donald Trump from office. That would bring a quick resolution to ending a dysfunctional administration.
For expediency’s sake, let’s do away with our judicial system and lock up people because we don’t like their color, political views, gender, or socio-economic background.
For expediency’s sake, let’s use eminent domain laws to forcibly take over small family farms and give them to big agricultural corporations which could run them more efficiently.
For expediency’s sake, let’s get rid of all State Department staff and let Mike make all the decisions.
2
Israeli Settlements ARE a violation of international law--no matter what Trump's Criminal Enterprise says.
5
@Sage Which international law? Please be specific.
7
The Trump administration's lack of morals, discipline and accountability may be hurting them for votes in 2020 - so perhaps they are doing this to maintain some evangelical votes (Evangelicals have a twisted interest in Israel for their personal salvation, not for the Jewish people there). They may say, "yes he is wrong in many ways, but look at what he is doing for the evangelicals' sake!"
5
Like Rudy Guliani, Kushner is an unelected, unofficial broker of US foreign policy. He goes through backchannels and makes "deals" outside of the state department. Bibi is a close family friend whom Jared grew up with, so favoring Israel is akin to nepotism. Trump's son-in-law is making life-and-death decisions based on what's good for Bibi and the Trump family, not for America or the world. This is yet another in a pattern of travesties committed by Trump's amateur show. The greater travesty is that Congress just sits by and let it happen.
7
Our hubris is deeply unsettling. The United States will now determine international law? It is called "international" for a reason beyond applying to all countries; it is also agreed upon by the international community, not just set by an overwrought bully nation...and our stance is in support of Netanyahu, but of course we don't try to influence elections in other countries. Give me a break.
5
Is that a unilateral pronouncement on international law? How come?
3
And here I thought that Jared had solved the issue of peace in the Middle East...
6
The Palestinian people just want to live in peace and the only way for that to come about is for Israel to take back all of the West Bank and Gaza.Starting with Gaza,when they return peace and prosperity there,the rest of the Arabs will clamor to be Israelis.
4
The Arabs have been seeking Israel's destruction since it was established. They have been and still are explicit on this point. Indeed the rise of the Israeli right is directly attributable to the widespread view among the Israeli public that there is no partner for peace, just intractable enemies who differ only in their willingness to soften their violent rhetoric to appeal to the West.
9
Whatever I want I declare lawful.
Whatever my enemies want I declare terrorism or wrong.
Whatever their reaction I react with a global boycott.
If my friends don't agree with me I boycott them, too.
Tell me what democracy looks like
This is what (our) democracy looks like.
We don't deserve to be a world power - and we won't be given this self-destruction.
2
Not that it was possible that the U.S. under Trump could be perceived any longer as an 'honest broker,' this completely obliterates that possibility. Palestinians can no longer expect even symbolic respect in any negotiations. Violence is now fixed on the agenda.
5
As far as I am concerned, there really is no such thing as international law. There are international agreements and treaties but the term law creates a distinction that does not exist. No one in the international community has attempted or will attempt to enforce a withdrawal of Israelis from the West Bank. Unless and until there is an international governing body that is actually tasked with enforcing an “ international law”, its more of a non binding agreement among nations.
1
@John Sorry that you have been sleeping under a rock for 50+ years now. The international governing body you mention is the United Nations (UN) and the treaty or agreements you mention are the UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. Please look them up. Happy Reading! Welcome back!
4
The highly partisan impeachment hearings going on in the House feature various witnesses testifying to how the President's actions toward Ukraine went against U.S. policy and our national security. This considerably more profound reversal of U.S. policy, with more obvious consequences for national security, looks to meet with thundering bipartisan silence.
1
How would Pompeo react if Canada or Mexico decided to build settlements in the United States ? His response to Israel's expanding settlements into the West Bank is irresponsible and a little cowardly. This can't end well
4
@jdickie3 There are Canadians & Mexicans who have been living in the USA for many years. No one calls them settlers. No want wants them expelled.
4
@jdickie3 The US is a nation. Palestine is not, at least not yet.
5
This is none of Trump's business; it is a matter between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It is, however, not unlike what Europeans did to the native Americans: round them up, isolate them, and force them into a series of wars that they cannot possibly win. This is not "honorable" statesmanship but, then again, nothing about Trump is honorable.
3
@AJB This is nothing like what Europeans did to the native Americans.
If you dig in Palestine, you will find ancient Jewish synagogues, ancient Jewish ritual baths & ancient Jewish coins.
If you dig in America, you will NOT find ancient Christian churches and ancient coins.
Jews have lived in Palestine for thousands of years.
Caucasians have not lived in America for thousands of years.
Palestinians oppressed Jews for centuries.
Native Americans did not oppress Europeans for centuries.
When Zionists moved to Palestine, there was a dramatic increase in the native population.
When European colonists came to America, there was a dramatic decrease in the Native population..
2
On Trump's part, this is just another attempt at distraction from his impeachment woes.
3
"The Trump administration declared on Monday that the United States does not consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank a violation of international law, reversing four decades of American policy and removing what has been an important barrier to annexation of Palestinian territory."
This should be on the Opinion Page. While the first part is factual, "has been an important barrier to annexation of Palestinian territory" is pure speculation, and very wobbly!
"International law" (whatever that may be) is irrelevant. Israel could have annexed Judea and Samaria at any time in the last fifty years. Who could have stopped them? How?
Judea and Samaria have not been annexed because Israel does not want to annex them. Those territories would, over time, shift Israel from majority-Jewish to majority-Muslim. That is demographic reality, and Israel has no intention of committing that slow suicide.
It has always been obvious that any peace treaty would have to include rationalization of the Green Line which is in fact nothing more than a cease-fire line. That remains true.
For FIFTY YEARS, the US has denied reality on "who owns Judea and Samaria"... perhaps encouraging the Palestinians to NOT make peace. This policy change cannot do any worse.
5
Timing is everything - do we have a significant election coming up or something?
3
Pompeo's halting and seemingly embarassed announcement is - above all - a gift to the private, profiteering and corrupt real estate development ambitions and plans of Trump's son in law Jared Kushner and the Israeli and Jewish American financiers and Trump donors and supporters backing him.
This is especially scandalous as Kushner has been charged with bringing about peace negotiations with the Palastinians and a workable 'deal' betwene Israel and the Palastinian side.
How can this all escape major media attention when the case of Hunter Biden and his paid for work for the Ukranian energy company Burisma causes such moral upheaval from the GOP?
For all we know Hunter Biden could actually have worked for Burisma (and the US) to frighten off further corruption by Ukranian/American interests, especially as his stepping down seems to have resulted in an energy contract with RICK PERRY - who was - after all - Trump's Energy Secretary until very recently.
The Westbankgate - another QUID PRO QUO for Trump and his family?
2
“arguments about who is right and wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace” — then what’s left? After saying this, how can the U.S. claim protection of law for itself?
2
So, new? Trump shows as much contempt for international law as he does for domestic law.
And he is as indifferent to the consequences of ignoring or violating international law as he to the consequences of ignoring or violating domestic law.
Is this decision part of the implementation of Jared Kushner's "peace plan"? Certainly, there will be no peace, but there will be many casualties, both Israeli and Palestinian.
If Jews believe in law as well as their 613 laws, will they, whether Israelis or Americans, prove to be self-serving hypocrites by applauding Trump's decision? After all, among the Ten Commandments is a prohibition on coveting (BTW, Paul made a point of featuring this commandment in discussing sin).
Moreover, undermining international law and agreements can set a dangerous precedent for undermining the UN decision to create the state of Israel in the first place. Indeed, an argument for undoing that 1947 decision is getting a hearing. So support for international law is in Israel's best interest, not abandonment for a little more land.
1
@Michael L Hays in 1948 all the surrounding Arab countries apparently didn't respect international law because they all attacked The fledgling state of Israel. Despite the lack of international law in the middle-east Israel still exists. All Jews were forcibly expelled from the west bank and east Jerusalem. Arabs didn't seem too concerned with international law when they were removing Jews from their land in the west bank and east Jerusalem. Does international law only apply to Jews in the region?
1
This move is an ill-conceived attempt to diffuse attention away from the impeachment proceedings. Nothing more to it.
5
You are not entitled to your own facts. The declaration that the settlements do not violate international law does not change longstanding policy. A declaration that the settlements are no obstacle to a peace agreement would constitute such a change, but not a declaration that they are not contrary to international law.
More importantly, civilian settlement of occupied territory is either everywhere illegal or nowhere illegal. If you hold that it is everywhere illegal, I can respect that, but do more than pay lip service to that claim. However, if it is illegal for one occupying power to allow for civilian settlements and for one occupying power only, that is not law. It is simply politicizing the law to justify conferring benefits on the favored at the expense of the disfavored.
3
Here's my understanding. The so-called "Green Line", Israel's pre-1967 borders, was not established politically. It was simply a cease-fire line from the 1948 war. The attempt by Jordan, Syria, and Egypt to "push the Jews into the sea" in 1967 didn't go especially well for the Arabs. After hostilities ceased, the NEW cease fire lines included the Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza, and a large swath of the Sinai desert under Israeli control. Since then, Israel gave the Sinai back to Egypt in exchange for a peace treaty, and unilaterally disengaged from Gaza. The remainder is Israel's to do with as she sees fit. There's sometimes a price for aggression. That seems to be a lesson that the Arabs are having a hard time with, but pretending that everything should go back to pre-1967 borders as if nothing happened is absurd. Israel should annex what makes sense to, and cede the remainder to the Arabs to make their state or be re-absorbed into Jordan and/or Syria or whatever.
8
So Jared Kushner is the genius diplomat who negotiated this "ultimate deal" in the name of his father-in-law. Let's hope this "ultimate deal" doesn't end in nuclear war.
2
A sad day for the world as the U.S. abandons its role as leader of the Democratic west for salutary benefits and domestic political advantage.
2
Trump is outsourcing the Palestinian problem to Israel’s neighbours that host Palestinian refugees, to boost Netanyahu’s chance to win a third election, should Benny Gantz fails to form a new government.
Although Netanyahu has made efforts in recent years to build diplomatic ties with other Arab countries, especially the Gulf states, in an effort to buy their silence on his Palestinian policy, this goodwill is unlikely to sustain - the alliance between Israel and the Arab states focuses mainly on countering Iran.
Jordan is bearing the brunt of Trump’s reckless policy. It is a staunch US ally whose ally, whose population is about 70% Palestinian, who are descended from refugees. Jordan’s official position is that those refugees and their descendants will one day be able to return to an independent Palestinian state, and considers any policy that undermines the two-state solution to be a blow to its stability.
2
Israel was founded as a bi-national state, with an Arab minority, but in June of 1967, when Israel acquired the rest of the land west of the Jordan River, that Arab minority approached 50%, making the country completely bi-national. The only purpose of the West Bank settlements has been to fully incorporate the West Bank into Israel. Therefore, the settlements mean that all Palestinians are full Israeli citizens. To recognize the settlements is to recognize that fact.
@Howard
Israel administers the area west of the Jordan river, which they ‘acquired’ following the Six Day War. The Arabs residing there are NOT Israeli citizens, and never will be. They have what’s called ‘limited autonomy’, just like many other populations across the globe...which, after waging over 70 years of terror wars against a sovereign state, is more than they deserve.
4
@Howard It's not true that "The only purpose of the West Bank settlements has been to fully incorporate the West Bank into Israel." The first settlements were established by Israelis who thought, correctly, that the Arabs would attack again & that Israel should have an early warning system of outposts. That's why the early settlements were on hilltops.
Zionists want a majority-Jewish state. Incorporating the West Bank would mean bringing in millions of non-Jews. That's the opposite of what Zionists want.
Jews had been persecuted for centuries in majority-gentile countries. Even when not actively persecuting the Jews, the majority-gentile countries refused to give refuge to the Jews when they needed it. There would have been no Holocaust if majority-gentile countries would have allowed in Jewish refugees who were escaping from the Nazis. The idea of Zionism was that Jews would return to their homeland & have a majority-Jewish country because majority-gentile countries had failed to provide safety for the Jews.
2
Shooting someone on 5th Avenue wouldn’t be murder. Serial sexual abuse isn’t a crime. Extortion of a foreign head of state is not an impeachable offense. So why would putting up a couple of houses on someone else’s land be against the law? And some foreign law at that!
11
@JB Jews owned land in the West Bank before the West Bank was ethnically cleansed of its Jews in 1948. Rebuilding settlements in the West Bank on land that was stolen from Jews is not wrong.
2
This decision by the Trump administration is based solely on the self-interests of Donald Trump, not the Palestinians, not the Israeli's, not international law, not in the interests of peace and humanity. I am a Jew; I am a Jew ashamed of the actions of my country.
9
I almost fell off my chair when the Great Dealmaker moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem with no strings attached! This move follows suit and was entirely predictable.
10
So the US government now actively supports the ghettoisation of the West Bank.
Nice.
9
The Palestinians deserve a state of their own. So do the Kurds. What is it in the Middle East that all these countries accept boundaries written a century ago by Western colonial powers, then again after WWII. Everybody wants a piece of another’s designated country, or wants religiously homogeneous populations (aka, ethnic, religious cleansing).
Why is it only up to Israel to give up land for a Palestinian state? How can any of these Middle Eastern countries support statehood for Palestinians but watch Turkey attempt to destroy any similar hope for the Kurds?
Forget history. Convene a centennial MidEast Conference. Redraw all those boundaries, with many nations giving up some land to make room for two new nations. And then write into all, yes, all, MidEast Constitutions, Royal Decrees, Charters....whatever...that internal religious freedom, religious co-existence must be upheld, honored.
But as has been noted for decades, the Palestinians may want all the land, but can’t have it. Anymore than the Kurds may want all of Turkey, (or Iraq, Syria) but will never have it.
By continuing to fight over these old borders, you in essence continue to live under colonial rule. All players need to look forward, not back. Think of the power, prestige, growth a MidEast consortium not-at-war unity might produce. So much better than killing thousands of your children, teens; your future.
If our president were a real leader, he might actually work for peace. I too will- look forward.
9
@Jo Williams
"Why is it only up to Israel to give up land for a Palestinian state?"
What an ignorant question. Talk about absolute and total blindness.
Israel's UN-resolved and legally held territory as per the mandate-split extends no further, than the 1967 borders. Period. The rest (East Jerusalem and the West Bank) was TAKEN in an aggressive war in the name of 'preventive self-defense' and had the Americans (and the entire international community) not said 'stop', it would have extended even further from the Red Sea and the Jordan River to the Mediterranean.
What followed was another major war (Yom Kippur in 1973), the occupation of South Lebanon for 15 years, the war against Hezbollah in 2006, the annexation of the Syrian part of the Golan Heights, the creeping ghettoisation of all occupied territories.
All justified by the Bible.
In the 21st century.
1
@waldo The '67 war was just a continuation of the '48 war. Egypt broke the cease fire by blocking the Straits of Tiran so the war resumed. Israel didn't start the war.
"We will not accept any ... coexistence with Israel. ... Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel .... The war with Israel is in effect since 1948." Nasser, May 28, 1967
5
This rehashing of every mandate, every war, every tit for tat argument is exactly why the Palestinians have no state. It has been argued to death for decades. Instead of attacking Israel, maybe the Palestinians should unite with the Kurds and start demanding from all their ....sponsors...and the UN..that all areas countries give up some territory, create two new nations, and move on. But hey, using Palestinians is so much easier than real solutions.
3
Sec. Pompeo said the US decision that Israel's settlements are legal under international law, "...had no bearing on legal conclusions regarding similar situations elsewhere in the world."
Oh, I get it. It's like saying, no one in the US can steal - except Dave. He's a good guy. He can steal as much as he wants. Everyone has to obey the traffic laws. Except Mary. She's fine. No president can extort help from another country for his bid to remain president, except....
8
Timing is everything. Did the Trump administration just meddle in another nation's election?
8
Why would anyone trust a country where being apologetic for misdeeds and humility are viewed as signs of weakness and inferiority?
3
This comes as no surprise from an administration that has made a point to be wrong on every foreign-policy issue, cozying up to authoritarians and shooting down efforts at diplomacy and good governance wherever possible. It won't last when and if the grownups are allowed back into the room.
2
I guess we should also recognize the “reality on the ground” that Assad has used chemical weapons and declare their use does not violate international law.
3
@Turner Boone Don't give them any ideas.
I didn't know there were any peace negotiations going on in Palestine Since 1948 the Arab leadership has refused to negotiate with Israel, preferring annihilation of any Jewish state. While I don't favor Netanyahu's government, the bigger bad guy, by a long shot, in Palestine is the Arab leadership. While the legality of the West Bank settlements might be debatable, calling them a detriment to peace negotiations is nonsense.
8
@eclectico
87% of casualties in the conflict have been Palestinians, thousands of them children. No matter how you parse it, rationalize it, or politicize it, that makes Israel the "bigger bad guy" by far.
3
@ajbown About 111,000 Americans were killed fighting Japan.
Over 2 million Japanese were killed.
About 18-1 ratio.
Does that mean that America was the bigger bad guy?
Of course not!
The numbers don’t tell you who was at fault.
2
Israel is now pursuing a one state solution. Which means the Palestinians will be Israeli citizens, but it seems likely that they will be considered second class citizens without the same rights as others who live in the same country.
A single state using segregation and brutality based on ethnicity is not a new concept, it is regressive.
2
Critics of Israel say in effect that Jews should be excluded from places like Hebron and Bethlehem. They would of course, and with merit (subject to patently obvious security considerations), strenuously object to Arabs being excluded from Tel Aviv and Haifa.
In other words, as always, it's more than a double standard. It's an impossible burden requiring national suicide for Jews; and no accountability whatever for Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza.
12
To be harassed daily and have to go through checkpoints and humiliating infringed on human rights. This is a double standard for sure.
6
@Lulu Easily ended. When you - and more importantly, the people in the West Bank and Gaza, and their apologists around the world - can clearly articulate how this might happen, it will occur.
1
The U.S. is the biggest violator of international law.
5
@Therese B.
This would be true IF such a thing as "international law" actually existed. We don't have to study history to arrive at this conclusion (although that would certainly help),; all we have to do is look around today's world as it exists in reality, not as described/dreamed up in "Critical Identity" classes.
3
It is comforting to know that Jared is working to achieve the "ultimate deal". The whole region will be soon safer.
1
Very sad that the Palestinians have been pushed to the wall. This is the most blatant disregard for human rights and international law. This will ultimately backfire against Israel as one cannot make 1.5 billion people their enemies and expect to live in peace. Very sad !
8
@Sohail Minhas Germany's choice: agree to live in peace giving up 25% of its land or fight the occupation. Germany decided to live in peace & has had many years of peace & prosperity. Palestinians' choice: the Clinton Parameters giving up 3% of the West Bank or fight. Palestinians chose to fight & have now many years war & poverty. Who chose more wisely?
2
Good decision by the Trump administration. A 41-year old “ruling” has had it’s time and failed to move the peace process forward. When the Palestinian’s decide making peace is more profitable than making and launching rockets into Israeli territory, they will realize real and sustained progress toward a one-state solution. Meanwhile, stand with Israel.
12
This may be a roundabout way of resolving the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The Crimean Peninsula and much of Eastern Ukraine are under Russian control, and can now be recognized as part of Russia.
The unresolved question is the citizenship of the inhabitants of the areas which change hands. Are the Palestinians and Ukranians in their former lands now Israeli and Russian citizens? Or are they stateless?
2
Hubris. Trump is not the king of America or emperor of the world. The world court is not a stacked SCOTUS. Hubris from an impostor. The free world shutters. Our enemies in Russia and China are delighted.
3
"Consistent with the reality on the ground." In other words, if there is chaos on the ground then chaos is legal. This is the same principle being used in American government so why not everywhere else? "Some times borders need a wall and some times they need to be breached" seems to be the insane message coming out of this White House regarding (among others) Mexico, Ukraine and Israel. Should Canada be worried?
4
This is what Tal Keinan writes about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are, “only three possible endgames”.
The first is that Israel could annex the West Bank and give its Arabs citizenship – which would mean Israel “opening itself to the prospect of demographic suicide”. Democracy and demography would ultimately “reduce the Jews of Israel to another minority in the Middle East”.
The second option would be to annex the Palestinian territories without granting the Palestinians citizenship – imposing sovereignty of people without representation. But he argues: “Most Israelis that I know would find their very loyalty to the state undermined if Israel ceased to be a democracy. Many would immediately seek to establish their lives elsewhere.”
As Israel’s “best and brightest” left, the economy would falter and the state could become isolated and eventually unviable. “Like the first, this option is likely to represent the end of Israel as we know it.”
The final option - is for Israel to withdraw from most of the territories, with or without an agreement with the Palestinians. If the Palestinians build a state, there will be a state, but if not, the West Bank “will likely become another rocket base”.
Maintaining Israeli security would be difficult in those circumstances, he recognizes, but adds: “Facing a sovereign country instead of an occupied territory, Israel could be far more aggressive in defending itself than it currently it is.”
The ONLY solution is two states
5
How come no one pressures King Abdullah II into taking the Palestinians into their real homeland, Jordan? When the British mandate was about to end in 1948 it was decided by the U N that the territory was to be divided into two states--one Arab and one Jewish. Why is that so hard to understand?
8
Trump & Co. can say what they want but that doesn't make it so.
As far as that goes, given the current disregard for the United States by the rest of the world, the opinion of this Trump regime might as well be shouted into a wishing well.
The truth is that Israel cannot have it both ways—except at the point of a gun. It cannot be a democracy and a Jewish state at the same time.
7
The U.S., sorry to say, is wrong; the unilateral taking of Palestinian land for Israeli settlements is akin to an assault. It may be classic "Trumpian', but still wrong. This goes straight against the 'golden rule': do not do to others what you would not want others do to you!
6
@manfred marcus This doesn't say that the unilateral taking of Palestinian land for Israeli settlements is OK. It says that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not necessarily illegal.
The first settlement on the West Bank after the Six Day War was Kfar Etzion. The land was bought by Jews in 1927. In 1929, Palestinians destroyed the settlement. In the 1930, Jews rebuilt the settlement, but again it was destroyed by Palestinians. It was rebuilt in 1943, but destroyed again in 1948. 157 Jews were murdered. 4 Jews survived. It was rebuilt by the survivors in 1967. Kfar Etzion was considered illegal. It should not be considered illegal. There are settlements that were built on stolen land. Israel has always considered those illegal & has been destroying them.
2
Our "leaders" know their time is coming to an ugly end - it only makes sense to burn the place to the ground on the way out. This is just more kindling.
3
This is the nail in the coffin for the 2-state solution.
Time for Palestinians to demand a single, bi-national, multi,-religious (yes, there still are some Christian Palestinians) state. Equal rights for everyone. No more roads that Palestinians can't drive on.
2
@paul The Palestinians don't care about rights. Hamas denies Palestinians their rights. The Palestinians of Gaza have no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom of assembly no freedom of religion, etc.
It makes no sense to blame the Israelis or the Jews because there are no Israelis or Jews in Gaza. Jews lived in Gaza for centuries, but were ethnically cleansed by the Palestinians in 1929. If the people of Gaza want freedom, if the people of Gaza want their rights, they need to overthrow Hamas.
Palestinians used to drive on Israeli roads, but Israel put an end to that because Palestinians were attacking Israeli drivers. If Palestinians want to drive on Israeli roads, they should stop killing Israeli drivers & they should allow Israelis to drive on Palestinian roads.
2
International law is not made or changed by any single country. Therefore choosing to ignore it is, at least, meaningless.
64
@Ertan
This would be true IF such a thing as "international law" actually existed. We don't have to study history to arrive at this conclusion (although that would certainly help),; all we have to do is look around today's world as it exists in reality, not as described/dreamed up in "Critical Identity" classes.
8
@Ertan International law was a grand 20th century’s idea that failed because the idea behind it was to allow the great European American powers to impose its policies on the rest of the world. In the end, people only abided by it at their convenience and most ignored it with no consequences. The UN has become irrelevant now and it’s about time that Trump tosses it as well.
5
@boroka that's a convenient excuse for this immoral proclamation by the US
12
The basic core lens for all law should be this -
Treat others as you wish to be treated.
If the Israelis would not want Palestinians ‘settling’ in massive, fortified settlements within their territory, bulldozing their houses, destroying their water supplies, erecting fences, denying them basic human services, they should not do it to the Palestinians.
There is no other bottom line.
In any case , whether in Israel, on the US southern border, Syria, the first thing we should do is turn it around - if this was me, my family, my home, my future, what would I want?
But especially in Israel where the Palestinians were living in that land before 1948, there is a serious moral issue that must be addressed with compassion, without greed.
What would I want, if I was a Palestinian?
86
@organic farmer I'll answer your question for you. I you were a Palestinian you would want the events of 1947 and 1948 reversed and the State of Israel eliminated. As an Arab, you tried that in 1967and 1973. If you (in the person of Yassir Arafat) hadn't been so inflexible and greedy in the Oslo accords, you would have had everything you claim you want now - the West Bank without Israeli settlements in it and a state of your own. Fact is, you never wanted anything less than "from the river to the sea". Well, whatever you think of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the UN mandate of 1947 is irrelevant today. The minute you accept the reality of Israel and recognize it and agree to live peacefully beside her - and drop unrealistic demands for the "right of return" - the settlements stop and you'll have your state.
29
@organic farmer And, as basic political science taught me many years ago, until and unless the Palestinians are in a position of equal power as the Israelis, the problem will not be resolved.
1
@ajbown That's just leftist, "progressive" high sounding rhetoric, absent any facts. It's not about power and subjugation. If the Palestinians and Arab states had accepted the UN Partition resolution in 1947, Israel would be occupying a much smaller area than it did after the 1948 war and after the 1967 war. As Abba Eban once said, the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. They want it all? Then they get nothing.
3
As it always is with Trump, it’s a matter of following the money. In this case, the trail leads from Sheldon Adelson (and his ilk) to Trump, and on to policy.
Political expediency aside, open-ended expansion of the settlements has neither clear cut historical nor legal justification and it is antithetical to any hopes for lasting peace in the region.
9
History ; Palestina, around 44 B.C. Taken over by the Romans,later by the Turkish Empire. Finely, after the fall of the Turkish Empire, partitioned in 1944 to give the Zionist a Jewish state. And let us not forget the Stockholm accord that seems to have been thrown in the round file almost immediately .
1
Yet another escalation in the culture wars. Trump is looking to evoke pro-jihadist response from the likes of Omar, Tlaib and Sanders. Our great minds on the Left wouldn’t help themselves from taking the bait and support the jihadists. Trump can then point to them and ask for votes!
4
I'm not going to lie- I do find it funny that a member of the PLO laments this as a breach of international law when the status quo is the result of the Palestinians not recognizing the 1948 partition or any subsequent peace overtures by the Jews and attempting to annihilate them multiple times. While I don't support this action since I see no material benefit that can come with this in the peace process, I am glad the US is finally telling it how it is and poking the Palestinians in the eyes for their unwillingness to negotiate and all the atrocities they've committed. Alas though, there will be no peace until the rest of the world is willing to chastise the Palestinians for creating the status quo, thus delegitimizing their campaign of terror and intolerance in the region. This move will only embolden supporters of Palestine in their convictions, as unfortunately it seems much of the West already has decided what they want to believe the narrative is. At least Israel can call on the US as a continued ally in this struggle though.
18
The case raises the question of whether there is such a thing as international law. The concept is a variation of the natural law view, which says there can be laws without legislatures.
Philosopher Jeremy Bentham called natural law "nonsense on stilts." If a claimed law has no legislative backing, it is no law at all.
All we can do is try to shame Israel out of its expansionist policies, although that's not a probable outcome.
5
The settlements are not a sticking point. The sticking point is that the Palestinians will not accept any peace deal that doesn't eliminate or considerably weaken the state of Israel. There were no settlements before the 67 war and none for many years after that. When the Palestinians say their goal is to eliminate Israel. Believe it.
42
Look at the 1948 map and start your argument from the actual legal facts.
7
@lester ostroy Well, they don't say that nowadays, so that shouldn't be a problem. When they object to Israel declaring itself to be a Jewish State, that is because they prefer it the way it began, as a secular democracy. Which paradoxically is also the homeland of the Jewish people, but which was originally supposed to have a secular, democratic government. It's a tough problem, how to be both, and I don't pretend to have any solution. Or rather, I like the American solution, but I don't think that's on the table...
1
The root of this problem goes back to the 1967 war. The war was not started by Israel but it certainly was decisively finished by Israel. They should have simply annexed al of the captured territory and dispensed with the “Settlement” nonsense from the get go.
27
Spoils of war nonsense.
4
@Thomas Smith The war was started by Israel when they staged a sneak attack against Egypt destroying their entire air force as their planes sat wing to wing on the tarmac. No country planning an attack would leave their planes in such a vulnerable condition.
Because they had a pact of mutual defense with Egypt, Jordan and Syria came into the fray.
During the 6 Day War, the Israelis deliberately attacked and tried to sink the USS Liberty. an American intelligence gathering ship. as it was in international waters. They knew that the ship that was clearly identified as an American ship was their target. They launched missiles, torpedoes and napalm on the ship killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 174 more. The first thing to be attacked by the Israelis was the monitoring apparatus on the front of the ship.
Fortunately they didn't succeed in sinking the ship as they had planned. Later the Israelis lied when they said that their pilots had mistaken the sleek Liberty for an old Egyptian tub, half the size of the Liberty.
To their utter disgrace, the Johnson administration refused to condemn the Israelis and the survivors were threatened with court martial or worse if they were to talk about what had happened to them.
I wonder how many Americans know about this deliberate act of treachery by one of America's allies.
9
@Jan Bauman Real history. Thank you.
"The settlements are home to Israelis in territory that Palestinians have fought to control, and their presence makes negotiations for a two-state solution all the more difficult."
Oh, come, now! The palestinians (not capitalized, there has never been a Palestine "nation", just a region so designated in history, and by the British at the end of WW1) have been offered a two state solution multiple times, and turned it down every time. Israel had control of Gaza until 1994 and withdrew voluntarily, hoping that gesture would lead to the palestinians agreeing to a two state solution, and that led nowhere except to more violence from Gaza against Israel.
The West Bank, always intended to part of today's Israel, was captured by Jordan in the 1948 war when the united Arab states tried to destroy the new nation of Israel, then ceded to Israel by Jordan in the peace accord of 1994.
The West Bank is, de jure and de facto, Israeli. Yes, palestinians live there. They also live in Israel proper, and have full rights there, including seats in the Knesset dedicated to their representatives. (Would Jews living in the West Bank be accorded full rights and protection by the authorities if it were to become a part of a modern Palestine? I think not.)
This recognition is overdue.
36
And how have these people been treated - these Palestinians with a lower case “p”.
The racism is appalling. If they were Jewish their existence would be accepted, such a strange way to treat others.
Do unto others ? I don’t think so.
3
The Trump Administration's impulsive and ill-considered foreign policies around the world are leading us inexorably toward war. I watched with horror as the "stable genius" pulled the U.S. out of the Iran Nuclear Treaty, the Paris Climate Accords, and the Nuclear Arms Treaty with Russia. In his "great and unmatched wisdom", he planned to host the Taliban at Camp David as America mourned the victims of 9-11. He abruptly betrayed our allies the Kurds, leaving them to be hammered by Turkish, Syrian Arab, and Isis fighters. His attacks on NATO and our allies, destructive trade war with China, support for Saudi Arabia despite murder in Istanbul and mayhem in Yemen, inept handling of nuclear-armed North Korea and Seoul, glaring lack of support for democracies in Hong Kong and Ukraine, imprisoning of Central American immigrants and asylum seekers and their children, and now this? Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, too, are all left to ponder how our safety and security will be shaped, or threatened, by Trump's moves in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank, as if recent events in Gaza weren't enough. The endless wars Trump wants to end seem likely to give way to the same, as well as more ethnic cleansing in the Middle East. Given past patterns, it’s just a matter of time before the bloodletting begins anew, as wars for revenge and advantage overwhelm the slender hopes for peace in the Middle East. Will the next president be able to pull us back from the brink?
9
Well,well seems like the United States of Israel has done it again! There will never be peace in middy East until there is a honest broker over seeing the conflict. Once more the United States of Israel has shown it's biased, sinister, wholly inappropriate policy in regards to the ongoing conflict in that region. Democracy has failed in that tiny country and is faltering in this great becon of light that was once for truth and liberty.
War is upon us people for what causes do we fight?
12
Interesting how the settlements violate international law, but the powers that be take no issue with the 300 missiles that Palestinian terrorist just shot into Israel. 
9
Is there no one else questioning Donald Trump's motives? Does anyone have a theory as to why he is ridiculously pro-Israel?
4
Is it the end of the Oslo and the two-state solution hitherto suggested by the US?
1
I hope so.
1
I’m wondering what Trump gets in return.
2
@Mary Butler A clear conscience and a good night's sleep knowing that he sided with the sane portion of humanity.
4
Votes.... and adoration from his base.
2
The way through the bushes and brambles of Israeli-Palestinian relations is a slight re-think of the two state solution. I suggest a Confederacy of The Holy Land. Two states within one state: In the area east of the Green Line a Palestinian state, capitol in Ramallah; west of Green line, State of Israel, capitol Tel Aviv. Both states confederate in the national state of The Holy Land, capitol in Jerusalem. Neither state by itself has direct power over the other. The Holy Land will have a National Knesset to handle actions and institutions which pertain to both confederated states: military, diplomatic services, treasury, etc. One person, one vote; everybody equal. And, please, stay within own state.
1
No surprise coming on the heels of Ambassador Sondland's testimony tying Trump to quid pro quo.
2
International law doesn't count with depots.
5
@William
This would be true IF such a thing as "international law" actually existed. We don't have to study history to arrive at this conclusion (although that would certainly help),; all we have to do is look around today's world as it exists in reality, not as described/dreamed up in "Critical Identity" classes.
Although calling the settlements illegal may have done nothing to advance the negotiations, dropping our objections to the settlements feels like a step backwards morally, and I am ashamed.
6
The territory that people call the West Bank is terra nulla and is disputed territory. It has NEVER belonged to the Palestinians because there was never a nation called Palestine. The fact that western nations assigned it to them is also based on nothing more than wishful thinking.
The Palestinians cannot deliver peace because they are a collection of competing clans who will not even intermarry. There is no peace between these clans so how can they deliver peace to Israel. This is also the situation in Syria,Iraq, Yemen etc etc. These states are composed of competing tribes who will never unite except under the yoke of a strongman like Saddam Hussein who will murder them into a "peaceful" group. Yugoslavia was the same an amalgamation of competing ethnicities held together by a strongman Tito. When he died poof all went up in smoke.
5
Shocking but not surprising since Mr. Trump relies on a few trusted friends to inform his policies. Mr. and Mrs. Jared Kushner and Jared's parents have been long time supporters of the Settlement Enterprise as demonstrated by their contributions to the West Bank Settlement of Beit El. Mr. Trump's appointed Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has long standing ties to the same West Bank Settlement. From 2011-2017 Ambassador Friedman was President of American Friends of Beit El which contributed about 2 million dollars in tax deductible donations yearly to the Settlement Community. There are so many other voices on the other side of this momentous policy decision which have seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
4
It amazes me how the Trump administration so quickly upends the status quo with a sort-of willy-nilly foreign policy. These come out of the blue with no rationale. The last thing on the administration's mind is peace. This continues to be very troubling to so many when our foreign policy is so fragile.
2
When viewed from the standpoint of domestic politics Trump's embrace of Netanyahu aligns with a very important position of the Christian right- fulfillment of prophecy. Trump only believes this as far as it garners votes. By aligning with the Israeli right Trump is aligning with his own base. If Trump's base demanded otherwise he'd kick Bibi to the curb in a minute- and don't think Bibi doesn't know this.
5
There's a complication to the Two State Solution that I don't see mentioned. The West Bank is referred to as if it were a single, contiguous region. In fact, Palestinians control many distinct and separate areas. You could think of "The West Bank" as San Diego, Fresno, and Las Vegas. These distances are exaggerated because Israel is much smaller, but the issue remains. Gaza is even further distant. Even if all sides agreed in principle the mechanics are daunting.
1
Just another impulsive move by Trump to change the impeachment narrative which will have negative consequences for decades to come. There is nothing this man will not do to solidify his iron grip on our Presidency. In two months he betrayed the Kurds gave an open door to the Russians to occupy Northern Syria and now with this move will crush any chance for a peace accord in the Middle East.
And several nights ago he had a private showing of "The Joker" in the White House. Yes our President loves to see things burn.
7
It's simple.
The Palestinian people are getting perilously close to the time when the Peace Train will leave the station and never return.
It's been patiently waiting there in the station for them since 1948.
The conductor -- he looks a lot like Mr. Netanyahu -- is frantically
yelling "Hop on Board."
Why aren't the Palestinian leaders listening?
14
Since the impeachment inquiry, has revealed their playbook, What do they owe Netanyahu? He's embroiled in his own election fight as well a criminal investigation? Improper security clearances and unqualified Rudy Giuliani type diplomats.
4
As the world has given neither judicial nor legislative authority to whoever the current president of the United States of America is, it is hard to see how this development creates any change in Israel's ability under international law to annex parts of Palestine.
6
Gee - guess Jared failed to find peace.
8
In 1948 the new homeland for all holocaust survivors as well as all oppressed Jews around the world should have been America.
Instead of supporting a United Nations resolution to create Israel the American Congress could have passed legislation inviting all Jews to apply for a fast track immigration to the United States.
Today in 2019, America would be applauded and recognized as the great nation, which began with immigration, reaching out to the Jewish community during its time of greatest need.
5
@Michael Kittle That would have been a much better idea if it had been done in 1938 instead of 1948.
1
So wrong. Trump's so wrong. This idea is so wrong. Stop the world, I want to get off! Maybe we should give Native Americans the west part of the US...???
8
@RCJCHC We should give land back to the Native Americans or, at least, honor the treaties we signed with them.
1
Once again our puppet president does the bidding for the Russians. They have given the green light but Israel to grab land. Just don't be surprised when Russia reaches out again and grabs a piece of land with the same ideology. When will the people of America see that Putin has some shameful dirt on the president, and knowing him it will have to do with "call girls" that's his kryptonite. Every decision that has to do with Russia, Pres. Trump has given him the green light to do whatever Putin wants.
2
I wonder what the quid pro quo is on this one.
7
Remember when Trump first got into office, and he would get busted on something, then at peak scrutiny of that behavior, the Trump admin, or Trump himself would do or say something somewhat more repugnant, seemingly as a means to distract from the more immediate repugnance?
Well, now, there's this impeachment investigation, and after expending an entire catalog of repugnant distractions, is this all they have left?
1
From Tax cuts to tariff taxes, to West Bank land, let's say it; Republicans are lowly thieves.
10
Quite frankly, I'm not surprised at all. Given that Trump's daughter is Jewish as his son in law - Jared, as is the Secretary of Treasury, it's clear that his policy would be very very pro Isreal.
Besides as some people sensed before, Jared had no true peace plan, but really a hidden adgenda which has played out over time strongly in Isreal's favor.
10
Brilliant !!!!! Nothing has changed and yet to the Arabs everything has changed. The Arabs (and America's liberal left) believe their own rhetoric so there has been change. Reality says otherwise. They are certainly persistent in their views.
Then we must remember that there is actually no word in Arabic for "compromise". Don't believe me, look it up. Maybe they will incorporate a new one: "death-to-America" into their lexicon. I do not think that will help either. "Leverage" is a good new word for Arabs to learn.
Trump or should I say Kushner, is making a master move that defies conventional thinking. It's really brilliant. He is simply moving to the inevitable and Arabs usually acquiesce in the fait acomple. But it's not a Western concept of peace, it's "hodna" a temporary setback and retreat in anticipation of war and " inevitable" success of Islam over its enemies.
6
This is deeply shameful and it's surprising that the whole State Department legal department (other than political hacks appointed under this administration) does not resign in protest.
7
The sad part is the Democrats will not do anything about this, they will just fall in line.
6
One might ask why settlements were ever put in the occupied territories in the first place. Wasn't annexation always the ultimate goal? Israel has repeatedly obstructed any effort to reach a two state solution, and they have stated so publicly. Netanyahu even boasted in a private meeting that he didn't know was being taped how he had planned to sabotage the Oslo accords even as the negotiations were ongoing. The E1 settlement in East Jerusalem was strategically placed ini order to hamper the creation of a Palestinian state. If one steps back and examines Middle East events objectively, it is clear that the worst actors are NOT Iran, Hezbollah etc, but are Israel, Saudi Arabia, and their main facilitator, the US. Hezbollah rockets are certainly bad, having killed about 40 Israelis over the decades. But Israel has killed many thousands of Palestinians during their various offensives, and has enabled the killing of thousands more through their organization and support of refugee camp massacres. More than once Israel has been accused of war crimes by various international organizations. The truth may be hard to take, but it's still the truth. I am a Jew who strongly supports the existence of the Israeli state.
4
@Jon Gordon
Jews accepted the 1937 Peel Partition Plan, the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Clinton Parameters & Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a 2-state peace plan. All of these were 2-state solutions. All these plans recognized an independent Palestine.
1
Who gave Pompeo and Trump the knowledge not to mention the legal right (they are not scholars of international law!) to declare what happens in another country as abiding by international law? Will the UN or the International Court of Justice so state? I think not. Both of them should just shut up because they do not get to declare Israel's actions as legal. The hubris of them...sliding down the slippery slopes of putting the United States in the gun sights of and approval of taking territory that does not belong to Israel? Who will be next and is this an a priori approval of Russia in Crimea? Pompeo of all people deserves the alliterative pompous!
5
Legalized theft, courtesy of the Conman in Chief. When he leaves office and starts losing lawsuits, I hope his property is taken. Poetic justice.
And equating Trump’s unlawful actions with US policy - elect a Democratic replacement and reverse this policy, which supports Israel’s worst impulses.
2
Because the radioactive fallout from the "depleted uranium" weapons that the US used in Iraq is believed to have travelled on the winds as far as The Holy Land, the US owes the people who live on that land an alternative. To quote Emma Lazarus, "Give me...your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Allowing all of the people of Palestine to resettle in the US would be a just solution, and here the Palestinians would have property rights, rule of Constitutional law and deeds on houses with front yards and back yards where they could garden in peace. They are good cooks, and Palestinian restaurants would be a welcomed addition to many a town.
Recorded in Holy Scripture is the beautiful story of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth, a Moabite woman, became the ancestor of King David because Boaz, a Jew, welcomed her into his life through marriage. Because there is little or no intermarriage between the tribes in the Holy Land, those who have gotten the short end of the stick must be given a chance for a good life elsewhere. If the US does not welcome the oppressed Palestinians, perhaps we should rewrite the Pledge to the Flag and omit a few phrases.
2
Since this administration denies the validity of the very concept of International Law, this pronouncement is just redundant.
5
@EEE
This would be true IF such a thing as "international law" actually existed. We don't have to study history to arrive at this conclusion (although that would certainly help),; all we have to do is look around today's world as it exists in reality, not as described/dreamed up in "Critical Identity" classes.
1
Supporting Israel is fine; blindly supporting Israeli policies that work against even the hope of peace, will only result in more war.
7
Republicans and the right in general have always been anti-law. They fancy themselves as the party of law and order but that’s just thinly veiled advocacy for state violence. No one on the right supports global institutions and they all want to dismantle the UN. They also have been harping on about states rights for decades because they are opposed to federal government, except when a fascist is in office. They will want to undermine state government too. Their ultimate goal is to return to the law of the jungle. That’s why they all want guns.
3
Since when does the US set international law?
5
Secretary of State James Baker put it best back in 1991:
"Nothing has made my job of trying to find Arab and Palestinian partners for Israel more difficult than being greeted by a new settlement every time I arrive," Mr. Baker said during testimony before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on foreign operations. "I don't think that there is any bigger obstacle to peace than the settlement activity that continues not only unabated but at an enhanced pace."
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/23/world/baker-cites-israel-for-settlements.html
8
@NorthernVirginia There were no settlements before 1967. Why was there no peace?
1
The "two state solution." an Israel and a Palestine, has long been an impossibility because of decades of opposition by the Israel governmen nd othergroups Jewish and other groups including many American Jews such as many Amrican Evangelical Christians. Instead.i If the West Bank isj oined with present Israel, this would create one state, in which, because of demographic trends, the Arab former Palestinians would soon outnumber the Jews in present Israel. Therefore, how could Israel continused to be considered a "Jewish State" as it assets itself tto be in the present Israeli Constitution ?
The only thing Trump and Pompeo know about law is how to violate it
9
This is all about cold hard politics
Trump has cemented his reputation as the most ardently pro Israel president in history
This may help him carry Florida and Pennsylvania
Shrewd
1
Prime mountain biking terrain is always worth waging wars of biblical proportions over.
2
Surprise! - to no one
The outcome could have gone no other way
With Jarred “the fox in the henhouse “ Kushner
And President Foghorn Leghorn as his accomplice
What could we have expected
5
We shall reap the whirlwind.
4
Let's see how long this blind fealty to Israel lasts after peak oil runs out, and the United States no longer needs a tarmac conveniently within striking distance of the oil fields.
3
Trump’s external ego and boasting is out of control but it’s a mask for his narcissism and bizarrely a deep sense of inadequacy that he has papered over for years with lies about billions lost, bankruptcies, expulsion from his family home to a military school, his cheating at golf. His lies about academic non-achievements.
But if there is an inadequacy he should deserve before his life sputters away, it is the reputation he will deserve for a nitwit’s approach to the presidency that will live for a long time.
A public key to that is his idiotic approach to foreign policy - an approach that will dwarf even the insanity
of the GOP’s launch of the Iraq War for political reasons.
Into that, Trump has stepped into creating an even larger mess in Israel than already existed. He has betrayed our Kurdish allies and stepped up to revitalize a combination of murderous Russian, Turkish and Syrian tyranny and not incidentally contributed to Erdogan’s nearly complete destruction of democratic government in Turkey.
Now he adds to that picture of an unscrewed President, we gave his dishonest medical reports. His furtive visit to Walter Reed and a stream of lies from his lackeys while he stays hidden.
But we should not assume the rot is limited to any one area - it reaches and damages the heart of the nation and what holds it together. There GOP complicity is vast just as it rationalizes foreign betrayal.
1
Just one more poke in the eye to the Palestinians. There's not too much more to give the Israelis in the Middle East unless the USA attacks Iran.
5
I understand that this grotesque administration is authorized to set U.S. policy. But that does nothing to temper my annoyance when I read a headline with the attribution ‘U.S. says’. This ignorant provocation by Pompeo does not have the endorsement of many of us here in the ‘U.S.’
1
International law is just that , 'a Law recognized Internationally'. By ignoring international law America joins Israel in becoming a pariah in the international community.
2
@fredio
This would be true IF such a thing as "international law" actually existed. We don't have to study history to arrive at this conclusion (although that would certainly help),; all we have to do is look around today's world as it exists in reality, not as described/dreamed up in "Critical Identity" classes.
Go, Jared, go! What a disaster. Where are the adults in this administration?
1
The repercussions of DJT presidency, if we can even call it that, will reverberate throughout our world for decades to come. Get ready for the increasingly maniacal imposter to drag us into a major war, potentially even WW3 so he can escape accountability at all costs.
Next time you meet a Trump voter, ask them what their world vision is, and if they realize what is happening in the world. Chances are you will only hear crickets.
2
@Indisk They worship their Dear Leader; full stop. My wife's cousin, a loner who was heavily abused, has found his new Daddy-God in Trump. Nothing will ever change his mind, because he is Trump is him, and that Philosophy of Me is all he has to fill his damaged psyche.
The term is "fascism." So, I wasn't surprised when he started screaming antisemitic abuse at me after fifteen years of friendship, when he dismissed a million death from a strike on North Korea as "their problem," when he turned on the Stalinist dime and lauded peace overtures when Dear Leader changed tactics, or when he told me he was wary of seeing two of my Latin American naturalized citizen friends on July 4th, as that's a day "for Americans."
Not surprised at all. Don't speak to him, anymore. But it's quite touching and moving -- and really gives you hope for the species -- that he took the long abuse of his own father as an indication of what he should do to others.
Some people feel getting hold of the whip is what justice is.
3
This Trump policy will fragment future ally coalitions to support Israel. The USA will stand alone to Israel’s foes.
1
@PeterH
The European Union and the United Nations are not “Israel’s foes,” except in their opposition to Israel’s violation of international law.
2
Since when did the State Department rely on the Old Testament to form foreign policy? Pompeo, a radical christian, in supporting the handover of the West Bank to Israel, has snubbed his nose at the U.N.'s long standing position that the West Bank must be shared with the Palestinians. Apparently, Pompeo thinks the 2700 year old lamentations of a wandering tribe from the middle east provides the ideal insights to resolve the thorny foreign policy challenges of 2019. Mr. Pompeo, you are the head of the State Department, not a zealous TV evangelist- review your job description please!
7
"conditions on the ground"? Interesting, so Crimea and Donbass are now legally Russia's according to this US regime?
3
When China occupies Taiwan and immediately starts to transfer its own people into the territory, the US will regret having gutted the Fourth Geneva Convention.
4
Is this not playing into Iran's hand. They now have an excuse to ramp up their weapons program.
2
Putin wins another battle. Soon he will, with Trump as his main man, have the entire world in chaos. Just the way he wants it.
6
Yours statement that "The settlements have been a main sticking point in peace negotiations" is simply wrong.
If only it were true and if withdrawal was in fact the/a main obstacle to a just and lasting peace - the Israelis would immediately withdraw. However history tells us that withdrwals have led to further wars. The endgame of the Islamists is to drive the Jews out of the Mid-East. Game/Set/Match
10
This article is misleading at best and false at worse. President Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 that the Israeli settlements were legal. President Reagan was president through 1988 and into 1989, which leaves only thirty years to be accounted for. In addition, one would be hard pressed to find any express declaration that the settlements were illegal by any succeeding president, with perhaps President Obama, but only after he was lame duck.
5
Trump hardly defines international law. Jesus Mary Joseph. Ditto corpulent AG. US is increasingly an outcast and joke over here. President tries to buy Greenland from Danes which is not even Denmark, it has full self rule.
And yes, we need full structural reform. Painful but necessary. Others have gone thru it.
2
I completely disagree.
1
Very disappointed in the actions of our government. Once again, we are siding with oppression over human rights. Can't wait for Trump to be voted out next year. His presidency has been a black stain on our countries history.
5
Just last week we had yet another round of fighting between Israel and Gaza. As soon as a cease fire was reached, along comes Trump and pours gasoline on the still hot coals. The beneficiaries: Bibi who is trying to ensure that Gantz will not be PM, and anyone who benefits from chaos in the Middle East (guess who might that be - starts with P). Israelis and Palestinians are the main losers here but no one seems to care.
3
The US isn’t the arbiter of international law.
2
Our weak president needed to calm Israel after his Syria blunder made Israel less safe. Trump stumbles from one international incident to another...because he doesn’t care..none of it matters to him because he only cares for his own wealth...and none of these countries mean anything to him. This is why Trump is so dangerous...we are all for sale as long as it benefits him personally in some way.
2
There are probably ways of justifying Israeli takeover of Palestinian territories, ways going back to the Balfour Declaration, the various policies inflicted on Arabs and Jews alike by the imperial powers, and so. However right now this change is US policy is just a Trump political scheme.
1
The marvelous thing about the human mind is that it is capable of embracing just about any nonsense
2
I'm kind of surprised that no one has realized what is actually going on here. The Trump administration supported by Christians who believe that the apocalypse will come when the Jews retake Israel, particularly Jerusalem. Trump won the election because they turned out in droves to support him. To keep their support, he must promote conditions to bring the apocalypse about. Pompeo himself attends an Evangelical church.
4
"The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes."Article 6, Mandate for Palestine, 1922. Palestine at that time encompassed what is currently Israel, Gaza, and the Palestinian territories. "Close settlement by Jews" meant legally authorized settlement--residence, domicile, whether the Jews chose to live in any specific locale or not--not merely in Tel Aviv and Ashkelon but also in Jerusalem, Nablus, Jericho, Hebron, Ramallah. There was no "Palestine" before this Mandate, and the nationality created by the Mandate applied to both Jews and Arabs. The term "Palestinians" was usurped and arrogated by the Palestinian Arabs as an exclusive Arab national designation, but the term as it was actually used by the British, the Arabs, and the Jews from 1922 to 1948 referred to Jews as much as to Arabs. The Jews who founded Israel were always referred to as Palestinian Jews. So their settlement in all corners of Palestine was every bit as legal as the settlement of Arabs who then and now pretend to claim not just "Palestine" but Israel itself as "their"--and only their--country. If international law is what you want, there it is in black and white.
5
@Stefano445
The land belonged to those who lived on and worked it for many generations.
It did not belong to the British Empire by right, but only by force.
The carving up of the Middle East was British imperialism at its worst.
3
@Jerry Engelbach
Then ditto for the British colonies in North America where your residence on expropriated land for some reason does not equally jar your conscience. Nations are founded and maintained by blood and war. You simply choose to ignore the blood that irrigated the plot of land you now reside on. That doesn't change the facts that your hands are no less--and in reality, far more--stained with blood.
2
This won’t stop Trumps impeachment, so there’s that.
2
Forget any peace. Trump has given away everything, to support Netanyahu. Another one of his buddies. Just looking at Pompeo makes me sick, for not standing up to trump in support of State Department employees under him.
1
So, according to Trump's administration, Israel's occupation of the West Bank by military force gives them the "right" to plant settlements on the land there. What's next, saying that Russian settlements in – say – Crimea or Eastern Ukraine are OK too? Wouldn't be surprised.
2
Anyone really cares what US says? As far as authorities on international law go US is the last thing that comes to mind.
2
Right or wrong here, Israel need to be careful here. You cannot create another South Africa in 2019. The world will not allow such an ordeal to happen. You cannot claim to be oppressed and oppress other people at the same time. Trump will lead the world down a black hole and anybody who welcome any action by this man does not review or understand the history of the region at all. Every move is the wrong one with this man.
2
After the 6 day war it was the Israeli government's own legal advisor who told them that starting settlements in the west bank would be a violation of the Geneva convention and against international law.
They chose to disregard this and now we see the result.
The legal advisor later moved to the US
1
"...arguments about who is right or wrong as a mater of international law will bring peace." This pritty much summerizes this administrations perspective on international agreements or committments.
This change in USA policy unfortunately has nothing to do with justice or truth or geopolitical balance, rather it's all about vote getting for the next presidential election. Maybe not in the present but at some time in the future, near or distant, this change in policy will result in consequences that will tear at our own nation and involve us in the Middle East in ways that we cannot forecast now. The divisions of the Middle East now may alter considerably in the future. Will we have any input except our guns?
1
More nonsense from an administration that prefers fiction to reality. Taking territory by force is a violation of international law. An army coming in an razing an entire village is a violation of international law. The US is entitled to make a mockery of its own laws but international law should be respected. Clearly no human rights abuses could be bad enough for the US to question its blind unconditional support of Israel. The US is once again sowing seeds of discord in the Middle East. It shall reap accordingly.
6
Trump administration issues edict declaring all criminal activity to be lawful, and underwear to be worn on the outside.
2
One state with equal rights for all. Not a Jewish state but a state for all the people with a claim to that land. Let Jews live and establish settlements wherever they want but let Palestinians live there with them--and anywhere else in the land of Israel/Palestine--as equals. The fact that the Jews were oppressed historically and continue to be a target of racist sentiment does not mean that the rest of the world should endorse the idea of a state in which Jews have rights that the minority doesn't. Hopefully Pompeo's decision, made from the standpoint of real anti-Palestinian bias, nevertheless opens the possibility of a binational state in which Jews and Palestinians both belong.
1
@Adam
Because bi-national states where people have two completely different cultures work out so fantastically well under a single government?
The world needs to recognize the sovereign State of Palestine that has existed for 70 years and not recognize Israel until they abandon the illegal settlements, fully recognize a sovereign Palestine, and set up diplomatic ties.
1
@Adam
How is life for Israel’s Arab minority?
Khaled Abu Toameh, the Arab journalist who reports for the Jerusalem Post, U.S. News & World Report and NBC News, talking about life for Arab Israelis: "Israel is a wonderful place to live ... a free and open country.”
Arab women in Israel live longer than Arab women in any Arab country.
Study: Israeli Arabs Have Highest Life Expectancy in Muslim World
http://www.thetower.org/5791-study-israeli-arabs-have-highest-life-expectancy-in-muslim-world/
Arab babies in Israel have lower infant mortality than Arab babies in any Arab country.
Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel established a registry for Arab donors of bone marrow and stem cells to facilitate life-saving transplants. The registry at Hadassah Hospital is the only one in the world for Arabs and will no doubt save the lives not only of Arab Israelis but also of some citizens of Arab countries, not a single one of which has a registry of its own.
2
It is international law. It defyies the Geneva Accords and multiple UN resolutions. Israel is NOT above the law. The cowardice of individuals with "power" violates human life, and the absence of empathy among those in power is painfully sad--for the hundreds of thousands of individual impacted, it is devistating.
3
The U.S. should keep quiet until credibility is restored and our words mean more than the paper they're printed on. The actions of this administration couldn't be more slanted against the Palestinians if Netanyahu himself provided the script.
3
So Pompeo can nullify a long-standing decision based on law with a decision based solely on policy considerations? So much for the due process Republicans are championing in the impeachment hearings.
Pompeo is a bright guy who knows better. His religion and/or ambition disqualify him from any post that requires rational decision making.
The Palestinians do not need to "summon" outrage. I feel outraged and it is not my life or my land. The Yeshiva spokesperson hit the nail on the head. This is, for Trump, all about Trump wins, as usual. We can expect other actions and gifts to segments whose support he must bolster between now and the 2020 election regardless of the consequences to the nation, world affairs, or other segments of the population.
4
This will be reversed as will all the things wrecked and ruined by these corrupt Trumpists. Nothing of theirs will remain except an asterisk in the history books of tomorrow.
It has been 72 years since Israel was born in 1948 starting an immediate war with the Arab states.
Nothing has been resolved in these 72 years between the Palestinians and the Zionist community.
This decision will only make matters worse.
5
The strategic eastern border of Israel is the Jordan River and not an arbitrary line wandering along the foothills of the Judaen Hills which at one point comes within 8 miles of the coast. Any military strategist will say this border is not viable with the enemy ocuppying the higher ground and the risk to Israeli supply chains if this 8 mile waist is cut.
After the experiences of '67 and "73 I'm not surprised Israel sees the West Bank as critical to their survival.
2
Using the settlements as a political diversion. Cynical, if not evil.
He gets worse.
3
This current administration's entire international policy seems to be setting the stage for WWIII.
1
Peace and Pieces
Orient and Orientation
There are crying mothers on every side.
No peace in sight.
No solution available.
If peace is not to be found, how can the injustice hate and distrust that ignites violence be reduced to a minimum.
How can security and prosperity grow for everyone.
'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem' and for all it's inhabitants regardless of ethnicity, race and religion is what I do, even though I know that the 'prince of peace' did the same and was killed on Easter.
2
Was this another part of the Middle East peace plan of Jarad’s that has yet to see the light of day or a stroke of political genius for President Trump? By declaring Israel’s legal right to the West Bank territory he is also declaring Putin’s right to Crimea. It’s the possession is 9/10ths of the law policy, still recognized as settled law by 5th graders.
Like everything Trump does, this move does little to advance the attended goal of reaching a lasting peace in the Middle East. While frankly since no other president has been able to make progress in this arena either, this move at least has helped solidify Trumps pro Israel voting block and reinforced his kinship with Netanyahu. The second byproduct of this move also sends a subtle message to Putin; Trump supports Putin in Crimea.
@Leslie
The Russians held the Crimean for hundreds of years. Most of the settlements are less than 60 years old.
Oh this must be part of Jared's ME Peace Plan that he has been working on for 2 years now..
1
The mixture of racism, religious fundamentalism and colonialism inherent in this move is the nail on the coffin of "international law", but it has been enabled by all recent US administrations. P.W. Botha and Reagan would be proud of this in-your-face racial supremacist colonialism. It is, however, highly hypocritical for the liberal US media not to be as adamantly anti-racism in the case of Israeli occupation as it is against other cases of institutional racism and colonialism.
8
Thomas Jefferson was a profoundly brilliant man who truly believed in a divine right to be free. As President following the beginnings of our nation, he brilliantly acquired vast reaches of the inner continent with the Louisiana Purchase. He foresaw the future growth of our nation. He bought the land. So why can't Israeli's and new Settlers wishing to live in the West Bank purchase the land?
How’d that work out for the American Indians who lived on this purchased lands? The Palestinians have every right to be in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
I’m appalled that the Israelis, who have all the political, economic and military power continue to keep their boots on the necks of the Palestinians, who are essentially powerless.
1
This only confirms what many have long known: that the US is part of the problem not the solution.
12
Any reasonably well-trained pundit can spin this piece of news to the delight or disdain of their readers, so I am not impressed by dire predictions as to what this announcement will lead to.
Future predicting is an occupation rife with folly. What was is what will be.
Perhaps my lamentation stems from being a shell-shocked resident of the region who has seen too much ineptitude and short-sightedness.
Maybe it is the realization that, under Trump, the United States of America has changed from being a beacon of hope and reasonableness to that of a gasoline-can carrying pyromaniac. That is just a shame.
It seems Trump's strategy is to precipitate a war. Mostly, we know how these start. How they end is not so clear.
7
So law is now a matter of policy?
3
The Balfour Declaration was protested by My Lord Curzon, Edwin Montagu and the authors of King-Crane. Not surprisingly, a nation founded at the expense of another people is an endeavour which was and remains a grotesque moral disaster.
4
Every new decision made by your government is a new threat to the future of our world. I am a strong supporter of the United States, but it is now clear here, in Europe that since Trump's election, the United States has lost his leadership and international credit. Europe is currently rebuilding his own army and will soon leaving NATO, because USA can not be trusted anymore. I'm beggin you, do everything you can for fire this man, please .
4
@J.christophe
I beg Europe to stand on his own two feet. The US is quickly becoming a 3rd world nation with a million homeless people living in tent cities, many millions more are an illness away from being homeless.
This decline started in the late 70s and every president since Carter has hastened the decline and destruction of the US.
My only hope is that the British Commonwealth and Europe will remember what the American people did to help in the World Wars and can take pitty on us by allowing us to be refugees.
'Mr. Netanyahu praised the decision and said it reflected “historical truth — that the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in Judea and Samaria,” a term for the West Bank.'
The confinement of Native Americans to reservations, and Chief Justice John Marshall's federal trust doctrine enunciated in 1831, wherein he described the relationship between Native American tribes and the US Government as “resembling that of a ward to his guardian” and declared the US Government the trustee of Indian affairs and legal owner of their land, doesn't reflect an historical truth.
The historical truth is that Native Americans were here first and the US Government wasn't their guardian but rather an invading force that stole their land through brutal violence in a process of systematic genocide.
If "we were here first" is the determinative argument that accords Israel the right to reclaim land that was theirs in biblical times, then, logically, Native Americans have the same right to reclaim land that was historically theirs centuries before Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.
7
I would like to know what are the lega arguments behind this decision. Not that they will make any sense, I´m sure. That´s why I am curious: how such a preposterous position can be grounded.
1
Another distraction to divert attention from the impeachment.
I wonder what other wild plans Trump has for stealing headlines.
2
The arms manufacturers and dealers do not want peace. And they are not insignificant players in the Middle East.
7
If the settlements are declared part of Israeli sovereign territory, doesn't that mean the West Bank becomes part of Israel and if that happens, how are the Palestinians there not given citizenship rights?
3
The erosion of U.S. soft power continues steadily under Trump.
5
It's hard for me to believe that this is a gift to Netanyahu to help his efforts to form (another) government. (a) The US policy on the settlements wasn't an election issue. For those who voted anti-Netanyahu, it wasn't the US so much as "Bibi" himself (legal issues, personality, time for change ...). That there's a new policy is irrelevant. (b) Trump ONLY CARES ABOUT HIMSELF. He probably believes it'll help him in 2020, by garnering/embellishing his support among Evangelicals, right-wing/Orthodox Jews, especially as the Democrats are creating distance with Israel/Netanyahu. He also gifted the BDS/Arab/anti-Israel groups by demonstrating, again, that the US isn't/can't be a neutral arbiter or facilitator for resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Another fine mess
6
We reach a decision point. Do we want to live in a rules-based society, or not?
If the answer is "yes" then an announcement by a single religious zealot has no meaning. The law remains the law.
The declarations of Trump and Pompeo violate the Charter of the United Nations and are clearly outside long-established international law. The are "outlaws" which must be rejected as leaders of our society.
5
I fear we may well be merely seconds to midnight in terms of facing the possibility that a hot-headed despot may possibly trigger an event of potentially epic and disastrous proportions, perhaps of a nuclear or dirty bomb variety.
I am just shy of turning 60, a professional writer who early in life earned a bachelors degree in political science and parlayed it into becoming a lifelong student of politics and avid reader of real news from diverse sources. I echo Tom Friedman's sentiment that our present day times pose the most dire threats our nation has faced in our lifetimes.
I know there was nuclear angst in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis--but I fear that Trump and Putin (and the broad array of ruling despots the president claims to be a big fan of) are far less stable and predictable than Kennedy and Kruschev once were.
Society openly worried about nuclear armageddon in the early 80's, but the possibility of something unraveling geopolitically producing unexpected results seems to me to be extraordinarily high at this moment more than it ever was during the No Nukes era.
Rockets launching in the Middle East feel right now feel to me like a foreboding prologue to something potentially deadly and catastrophic occurring.
4
Pompeo's announcement that the United States will no longer consider Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories to be illegal under international law is a nothing more than a transparent attempt to help Netanyahu stay in power. It may look to some like a victory for Zionism, but it is actually another blow to its legitimacy as a form of national self-determination.
Of course, the U.S. cannot by fiat change international law, and this departure from our formerly consistent support for the rules-based international order in place since the end of WW II will have no effect on the positions of other nations. It will only serve to further delegitimize us as a great power with a pretense to a principled stance in international relations.
Apparently it hasn’t occurred to Pompeo and his master that this new position is completely incompatible with our response to Russia's seizure of Crimea, for which we imposed sanctions on Russia for violating international law. Or maybe it has, and reversing that policy is next. It would certainly fit with Trump's eagerness to please Putin and Pompeo's hope to hasten the Apocalypse.
5
I wonder if Trump did this right now to divert attention away from this week's impeachment hearings. Because it will surely create more conflict within Israel and between its neighbors, and that will take the attention away from what will be going on in the House.
3
Peace is not doomed. I believe, as an opinion, that it is enhanced. The sooner the Palestinian leadership sees the reality of Israel as a permanent state the sooner they will accept. They are not there yet. And there really is no longer the regional and international support for the PA or Hamas due to corruption and terrorism. Arab countries no longer support the Palestinians, due to their own frustrations with the Palestinians as well as the recognition that regional stability for each remaining stable Arab country is enhanced by Israel.
Two generations. We will get there.
6
It seems that in every arena, the aim of this administration is to sow the seeds of conflict and destabilize. They say that we should still support the president because the economy is good. I say enjoy it while it lasts. There is nothing good coming from what is going on now. Nothing at all and I pity those who do not see it.
6
What has been particularly irritating and confounding about the spread of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank is that many of the most radical settlers are Americans, not Israelis, who have decided to make Aliyah and who speak of the West Bank in biblical terms. On the other hand, you have American organizations such as the Friends Service Committee who have been working in the West Bank for decades to support a better future for the Palestinians.
5
Many of the settlers are Russian.
That what Trump says, not the United States. There’s some question about his legitimacy to be holding office, to say the least.
5
There's no doubt in my mind that this situation is very much akin to a divorce based on irronciliable differences. The only practical solution for all is for both sides to seek an independent court hearing whose main aim is to consider the lives of the children who affected by this, settle their pecuniary interests and move on with their lives.
The elusive Pompeo finally makes an appearance to announce a reversal of a long-held 1978 legal opinion declaring that Jewish settlements in the West Bank were illegal. Such a policy change by Trump further undermines any hope for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. From declaring Jerusalem as the new U.S. Embassy site to a Netanyahu approved resolution denying Palestinians equal rights together with Pompeo's statement of approval of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, was the final dagger in the back of an effort by Palestinians to strive for a two-state solution, including a goal of self-determination. This last action by the Trump administration, only adds further credibility to the fact that both Kushner and Friedman, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, was instrumental in the policy change as both were donation contributors to the building of illegal settlement on Palestinian land. In the past, prior U.S. presidents remained neutral in hopes that both Israelis and Palestinians can come to a peaceful and fair resolution of their conflict. Trump and his pro-Israeli administration has chosen a policy that will only prolong the conflict which will result in more deaths of civilians on both sides of the conflict.
28
There are so many thoughtful comments here that reflect the complexity of the issues surrounding settlements in the West Bank. What is not complex in the least is the decision by the current administration to suddenly announce support for the idea that ALL settlements in the West Bank are legitimate. It smacks of pandering to the highest degree. The vocal support that Trump has enjoyed among a minority (relatively large by historical standards) of American Jews and a large majority of Israelis, fell amazingly silent with Trump's total betrayal of the Kurds in Iraq. Clearly, he was searching for a way to signal his 'best ever' support for Israel. I wouldn't bet on it.
18
So who put the USA administration in charge of deciding what international law ought to be? Outrageous!
40
Every president in recent history, has tried to bring the Israel and Palestine together, and be a peace maker. Now, the man in the White House, and Pompey, who have no knowledge of foreign policy, are determined to create more problems for these 2 countries. Encouraging Netanyahu, the bully of the east to become more aggressive than before, by breaking the international laws, as Trump is breaking our laws, are only asking for more blood shed and misery for Palestinian people.
22
@BB
‘Palestine’ is not a country....sovereign nor otherwise... and never has been at any time in history.
1
@BB:
We now have, occupying the Oval Office, the single biggest threat to the welfare of our nation, and indeed, based on the Cretin-in-Chief's attitude vis-a-vis Climate Change, to the entire planet, since WWII and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Those of us "on the left" (a better term: "still endowed with some sanity") can see the unfathomable tragedies to come if he manages to escape impeachment and, consequently, is re-elected by a vengeful Right with the assist from the Electoral College.
Once upon a time, the notion that "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" was taken seriously as a bracing warning against extremism in politics. Alas, few seem to even dimly recall critical message of that truth, let alone care to practice it.
Make no mistake: all Republics eventually fail; as with Rome, so shall we go, by our own willful ignorance and blind resistance to compromise.
This latest, absolutely capricious and utterly insane decision to essentially disenfranchise a whole people, by Royal Trumpian fiat no less, pushes much, much closer to exiting the world stage by our own arrogance and sheer stupidity.
Sad. BIGLY sad.
Israel was created by an act of self-determination. It did not concede the borders imposed on it by Western colonial powers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Declaration_of_Independence
The original draft had declared that the borders would be that decided by the UN partition plan. While this was supported by Rosen and Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, it was opposed by Ben-Gurion and Zisling, with Ben-Gurion stating, "We accepted the UN Resolution, but the Arabs did not. They are preparing to make war on us. If we defeat them and capture western Galilee or territory on both sides of the road to Jerusalem, these areas will become part of the state. Why should we obligate ourselves to accept boundaries that in any case the Arabs don't accept?"[8] The inclusion of the designation of borders in the text was dropped after the provisional government of Israel, the Minhelet HaAm, voted 5–4 against it.[9] The Revisionists, committed to a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan River (that is, including Transjordan), wanted the phrase "within its historic borders" included, but were unsuccessful.
7
Zionists originally used the Balfour Declaration to justify land grabs, but the 2nd part was never mentioned:
1"His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, 2 " it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
8
@stewart :
As has been abundantly clear for quite some time now, Her Majesty' government utterly failed with respect to the first clause.
Consequently the second became moot.
1
The Palestinians refuse to stop sending missiles into Israel.
The Palestinians will never seek to establish peace with Israel.
Israel has the right to defend their citizens against the terrorist who surround them.
And Israel has their right to settle the lands they gained during the Six-Day War.
11
Don't think the Palestinians will accept this decision. It will be the beginning of a new conflict between the two places: Israel & Palestine. And the fault solely lies on our own government who not only cannot provide peace in there but introduce more problems for the two countries.
Trump must be in big trouble due to impeachment hearing. Whenever he has big problem, he will create another "foreign" one to divert attention from his domestic problem to international crisis, and thus headline news.
16
Every strongman does that. It is their signature act. Imagine if Trump mid of next year thinks he will not win the election. What then? Iran?
2
I think this is Trump’s distraction from his impeachment.
11
trump isn't going anywhere except towards 4 more years
When you're great (again),
you get to decide what "violates international law,"
and what doesn't.
Next: illegal immigration does not "violate international law," wall or no wall.
2
The area in question was "occupied" by Jordan for 19 years, after the 1948 war. Prior to that, the land was administered by Britain, but originally set aside for Jewish settlement. The land has now been "occupied" by Israel for the last 52 years. Is Israel's "occupation" really any different than the land masses "occupied" by other countries (e.g., the continental US, the borderlands between Poland and Russia, Germany and France, etc; when will New Mexico be returned to Mexico?). Keep in mind, the previous border was an armistice line, not a border. To single out Israel for "illegal occupation" is what? Anti-semitism?
12
Get used to forever-wars, Americans.
5
'Tis been the status since June 25, 1950.
Nothing new here, keep moving along . . .
The legality of the West Bank settlements is not black and white - it seems complicated. The fact that lots of countries take a sidew against Israel on this doesn't surprise me. Nonetheless, I'd like to see peace there resulting in a two state solution, and these settlements have always presented an obstacle to negotiations.
But it's not right to say, as UN 2334, that it's a clear cut case of illegality. The land is technically unassigned, i.e. there is no sovereign country that has rightful claim to the territory. Under the British Mandate, Jews were allowed to settle there. Nothing has technically supplanted that League Of Nations mandate - there's just been fighting. It's not like there was a country Palestine that Israel invaded and then deported people into its territory. This is just people voluntarily moving there. I think they have as much right to be there as Arabs. It's just bad for peace negotiations. And the US policy on this question has flipped back and forth over the decades. The bottom line is the US and other major powers need to help these parties come to an agreement and 'settle' the matter once and for all. Sadly I don't see it happening in my lifetime.
87
We have not observed that these lands are "unassigned" vacant and waiting to be developed and occupied. American colonists claimed that North America was unassigned and vacant. That's not how Native Americans saw it. Even today, Trump people don't acknowledge any treaties that protect others, only the treaties or imaginings that benefit them.
37
It is more than “people just voluntarily moving there”. The religious Israeli parties recruit and fund the settlements and the government supports and protects settlers.
The forced expulsion of Palestinians from Israel in 1948 is at the root of this problem.
31
@srf so an imperialist colonizing nation issues a “mandate” and it becomes ok to displace the people’s living there and place them under military occupation? Well I guess that makes the point. If you’re taking the cue from Great Britain that’s exactly what you’d do.
22
Geneva Convention IV, Article 49: "...The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies."
The Geneva Conventions were adopted by the world community in 1949 in the wake of the most devastating international conflict in the experience of mankind. They were agreed by world leaders who, with the horrors of that war fresh in the memories, recognized the need to strengthen the protection of civilians in situations of conflict and its aftermath, to minimize suffering and to set a universally accepted standard for just and humane treatment even in the midst of war. The Geneva Conventions remain the cornerstone of the international system of humanitarian law and human rights agreements that is among man's greatest achievements and a symbol of hope for a better world. For Mr. Pompeo and the Trump administration, however, this is all irrelevant legalese and strictly subordinate to the pursuit of short-term political gain. It is part of the Trump administration's arrogant dismissal of international cooperation in favor of the imposition of its views by diktat. Smug pretension to some mythical superior knowledge of the path towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians cannot disguise the futility of its supposed peace process plans. Nor can it mitigate in any degree the degradation of respect for human rights and humanitarian protections that Trump administrations policies are accelerating globally.
16
Since when is United States the arbiter of international law. Last I checked, we have a proper agency that controls international order. It's called the United Nations.
297
@Indisk In theory. If that's the job of the UN then the UN is pretty poor at it. It needs serious redesign. Would that there really were some institution like what we all seem to want it to be.
6
@Indisk
Sort of. The UN doesn't actually determine international law. In any case, Israel has ceded 88% of 1967 captured territories, and the West Bank was captured in a defensive action.
Technically, there is no obligation on Israel's part to give up any further land area, and the Gaza result from Israel's unilateral withdrawl speaks for itself.
UN resolution 242 has been fulfilled. Over 400,000 Israelis live outside "the green line" and there really isn't any viable way to change that.
9
@Indisk What is International Law? Since we're citing it, and all. Got a reference to the International Law Book? Why do I have a feeling it's on the bookshelf next to Baseball's Unwritten Rules?
Speaking of the importance of International Law, I don't remember half this hubbub when the Palestinians blew up soft targets in Israel during the 2nd Intifada. I guess, according to International Law, it's totally fine to murder Jews for political purposes.
And, of course, knowing my planet, this doesn't surprise me.
5
The comments here clearly indicate the fear that Israel will suffer a disaster one way or the other regardless of the direction the Israeli government takes.
I visited Israel in 1986 to do research on the Israeli Palestinian dilemma since it was clear nothing had been resolved between the two cultures. I left the country with the feeling that the problem was intractable and would never be resolved.
This societal dilemma is much like America’s intractable relationship between blacks and whites which began with slavery of the blacks. Today America faces a burgeoning white nationalist movement that can only get worse.
Secretary of State George Marshall was correct in advising President Truman in 1948 that creating Israel would only make an unstable Middle East more unstable and create a problem that could not be solved. Truman caved in to political pressure and did not follow Marshall’s advice.
17
@Michael Kittle --In 1948 Truman was facing a difficult election so he could be president in his own right. By recognizing the new State of Israel Truman would be a hero to American Jewish voters. (Besides many of these American Jewish voters lost relatives in the Holocaust) In addition Holocaust survivors would have a place to go because American immigration laws were strict. America wasn't rolling out the red carpet for the Holocaust survivors.
2
"International Laws" is a worthless concept invented by the elite. No one really know what it is, the World Court is ignored and there are no effective enforcement body. Good for U.S to get out of this concept that forces the US to obey laws of all other countries.
2
@Qcell:
So, you're explicitly advocating that your country ignore and thumb it's nose at international standards and agreements.
Wow.
Very insightful.
Surely they'll be no adverse consequences of such an inane, wholly reckless action on the part of THE nation that the world looks to as establishing and protecting crucial agreements and standards which have been respected for decades.
Good luck with that.
The headline should read "US will no longer honor international law regarding the settlements." The legality hasn't changed. The settlements are still illegal. The US adherence to legality has.
19
I’ve always supported Israel, have family there, been there. But this is the worst decision of my lifetime. The chances for peace with the Palestinians have been all but snuffed out. It’s in keeping with Trump’s hatred of minorities, though. A decision by a little man.
25
And if Iran was building settlements, protected by its military, out on Long Island, would that be illegal?
12
How can this decision be an incentive for resumption of the already stalled/dead peace talks? How can we say, this does not violate international law? Instead, we will see the following:
- Russia normalizing invasion of Crimea, and prepare to grab more territory in Ukraine
- China may now move forward to invade Taiwan, as part of their territory
- China will now make it known, both the South China Sea and the East China Sea, belong to China.
- India will tell the world - the recent annexation of Kashmir is internationally recognized
It is unclear what exactly this will do for Israel and the Palestinians. Will this allow Israel to take over all remaining land currently occupied by the Palestinians? While this is a US decision, it may not be recognized by the rest of the world. The decision should not lead to other unnecessary situations to arise. It will be wise for both Israel and the Palestinians to decide on their future. In the past, the US has tried to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The US has always been blamed as being biased towards Israel. This Settlement decision may not be perceived differently.
7
Secretary of State (or, for purposes here, "Secretary of Status") Mike Pompeo states, in the Times's words, the U.S.'s proclamation has "no bearing on legal conclusions regarding similar situations elsewhere in the world."
Yes, another one-off decision, a return to situational ethics, not to be taken as precedent or relevant beyond it own, narrow partisan application, reminiscent of the decision in Bush v. Gore in which the Supreme Court handed the presidency to George W. Bush, admonishing us the decision is not applicable beyond itself. So much for general principles.
16
Mike Pompeo has also stated that Donald Trump, as president, can break no laws. I wouldn’t put much credence in anything Mr. Pompeo states. He has already proven that State Department employees have way more honesty and integrity than he does.
14
The entire Democratic field should denounce this. But they won't. Why not? It is not because they don't think it should be denounced.
13
What is “International Law”, and what court holds jurisdiction? The UN has long outlived it’s useful lifespan.
2
Trump has made it really easy for the next government to undo his damage. Being that he literally hasn't done anything work keeping we can pass one law making void all of his decisions over the past 4 years.
3
Make no mistake, folks. Ignoring the law is being presented as the new norm. Think it can't happen here? Dream on.
23
Why would any ally or other nation trust America to live up to its treaties,or word?
28
They won’t. That era is over. Even with a new administration, it will take years if not decades to repair our image on the world stage.
7
The only political solution from here is full annexation and equal rights for all. It is wrong to dismiss this eventuality as the end of the “Jewish” State. The founders of Israel saw the State as a Shared Stare, but one of clear Jewish identity, if shared. That is an achievable aim, and one the nations of the world will support.
6
This isn't going to help Israel. It thumbs its nose at the international community and them complains when they push back at its appalling treatment of the Palestinians. The US needs to restrain them for their own good.
12
Apparently, the misnomer, "Armageddon", is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Well, at least they're trying.
6
"Israel’s West Bank Settlements Do Not Violate International Law, U.S. Says."
Uh, would like to point out that just because President Trump says something doesn't make it true.
26
Is this serious? Or just another distractor to compete with the ones pertaining to the local White House scene? As a push from Kushner for Netanyahu it can be understood, however, since Netanyahu return is unlikely, no one outside the White House can consider it seriously.
7
The Palestinians have zero influence in Washington while the Israeli supporters have pumped in billions of dollars into our elected officials campaigns. No established member of Congress has ever come out and criticised Trump's handling of the Israeli - Palestinian issue , as horrendously one sided as its been. Even blue state New Jersey passed a "Stand with Israel, for peace and democracy" anti-BDS bill supporting the settlements. And the United States will continue spending $300 billion dollars a year on the Middle East War on Terror into the next generation.
10
I am going to assume this is another diversion away from the impeachment hearings.
19
The settlements are legal, because no doctrine of international law prohibits them, not because of “facts on the ground.”
The West Bank is territory that has not been recognized by the world as belonging to any state. It was part of the territory entrusted to the British by the League of Nations in 1922 in San Remo. Accordingly, it is land administered by Israel belonging to no sovereign power. This has nothing to do with private property rights.
At some point, that land will be joined to or become the land of a sovereign state. Until then, today’s decision recognizes the status quo ante of 1948 - Jews and Arabs alike may assert property private rights there.
The Obama administration policy was that Jewish property rights were somehow illegal. This policy, the one enunciated by Reagan, is that both Jews and Arabs can settle the land, though it’s national status was in limbo. Israel honors property rights of Arabs in Israel. It may be that a future Palestinian State will need to reciprocate for Jews. Why such a policy is even controversial in America is a mystery.
9
@Sagi The PA has stated that no Jews will be allowed in their non-existent state. It's not worth even mentioning what Hamas and the other radicals want.
1
Long overdue. The simple reality is that Palestinians have never been interested in negotiating any peace with Israel. Thus, this another instance of history passing them by. Intransigence has a price...
15
Since moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the Trump Administration has been rescinding policies regarding Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had been sacrosanct for many decades. There is much handwringing about the possible consequences, but keeping the status quo in place all those years clearly had not moved the ball demonstrably towards a lasting peace agreement. Twice, in the past 20 years, the Palestinians were offered virtually everything that they had been demanding, and yet they stepped away from a final agreement. As for governing themselves in their own semi-autonomous regions, they have proven almost entirely unable or unwilling to curtail the use of these regions by radical terrorists as launching pads for attacks against Israel. Even if the new policy positions do nothing to advance peace, it seems historically dishonest to argue that the abandonment of the old policy positions has now made it less likely to advance peace. 0 is not less than 0. Frankly, the greater interest we have in the region is in strengthening the de facto military and intelligence cooperation of Israel and some Sunni nations as a block on Iran (and Iranian surrogates in Syria and Iraq). For the US, the plight of the Palestinian really does not and should not matter. They are of no benefit to the US in its larger geopolitical aims.
10
Three points. (1) Of course the US cannot determine what is international law or not but it can have an opinion as good as anybody else. International Law is wishy-washy and good arguments have been made both ways. UN resolutions are too political to be cited as Law. (2) The argument to occupy the West Bank on religious and sentimental reasons is not good (3) The argument to occupy the West Bank on security reasons is compelling. As long as the Palestinian policy is to deny Israel's right to exist and to retake the whole region ( from the river to the sea) and as long as there is a danger of Hamas ( or an other group) turning the West Bank into another Gazalike rocket launch pad against Israel, occupation is a practical policy that only a reckless government would reverse.
6
@Sydney Kaye
Except that it's not about occupation; it's about SETTLEMENT. Those are not forts throughout the West Bank, they are settlements! Civilian settlements. If you think it makes Israel safer to further anger millions of Palestinians then just wait and see.
With the history of apparteid in your country, you'd think you would know that. We learned it the hard way here in the American South.
There is no surprise here. Yes, it may help Netanyahu. But the administration cares not for Israel nor the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This is Trump simply doling out gifts to the evangelicals in his base.
He hopes the second coming doesn't happen before Nov 2020; if it does, he may lose a lot of votes.
7
What we are experiencing under Trump, his Republican partners, and especially his international partners, is part of a far-reaching plan to bolster relationships with authoritarian rulers, show strongmen and oligarchs that the Trump regime power is for sale, shift borders, and create alliances which none will dare oppose.
2020 is going to be one heck of an election year.
8
The “reality on the ground” does not equal legality, obviously.
Yet that’s the only justification offered by the imposter who occupies the office of Secretary of State.
We have a government of men, not laws.
6
And how is "peace" is lost by this? The Palestinians can't agree to anything and their leadership is incompetent and corrupt, with Hamas sworn to destroy Israel. Please stop the nonsense that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital or the settlements as legal are what stands in the way of a resolution of the conflict. Ignoring the facts on the ground didn't advance anything for 25 years.
13
Another disastrous move by Trump and one that makes any chance of peace talks more unlikely. Pompeo should resign after the way he has abandoned the great people in our foreign service, who actually do more for peace and civility than anyone else in our government. He is a pawn for Trump and as disgraceful as the the partisan hack Bill Barr.
11
@Stephen How can the Arabs make peace with Israel when they can't even make peace with each other?
1
Asians who are related to those who originally came over the ice bridge into the Americas can now use the US and Israel's argument for claiming the West Bank. Asians can rightfully claim all of the Americas as theirs by bright of ancient heritage. Those of European ancestry can then vacate the Americas for Europe by making the same claim. Goody. I get to choose among Scotland, Wales, France, Sweden or Finland.
10
Of course the President lies, despite his own delusion that he really TRIES to tell the truth. An extreme narcissist, Mr. Trump has no self understanding and no self awareness. He lies so easily and so naturally that the difference between truth and lies has blurred in to a single thing. It is just that he has somehow convinced those who are around him that he is successful in his efforts. As Ms Haley said " he has never lied to me."
3
It makes an interesting comparison in Republican attitudes: Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait and Bush,Sr. announced the American position as, ‘This will not stand’, whereas Bibi Natinyahu occupies the West Bank and Trump announces the American position as, ‘That’s okay by us’.
6
@Lewis Sternberg That the Six Day War was aggression on the part of Nasser, the Syrians and their Soviet arms suppliers seems not to have occurred to you. Israel urged Jordan to stay out of the fighting, but Hussein thought he could grab some more territory, having acquired the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the previous war, and expelled all of the Jews.
Losing wars of aggression has consequences.
4
I have to believe there's some invisible force that can create unexpected and wonderful outcomes for peace loving humans. Pray. Unceasingly.
4
Many have stated that settlements and, more broadly, perceived Israeli intransigence is preventing a political solution.
When trying to understand the "other side", it is important to note that, most recently, the Palestinians rejected viable peace offers in 2000 and 2007. The current stance is not to negotiate at all. Statements from the EU such as "eroded the chances for peace" are not taken seriously by many for a reason, and neither are statements by largely unelected leadership in the Palestinian Authority (Abbas is in the 15th year of his 4-year term). Many are left asking: why didn't Arafat complete the deal at Camp David and why didn't Abbas make a deal with Olmert?
"On the ground", the reality is more stark than the settlements. The economy of Israel is $350bn and the economy of the West Bank and Gaza is $15bn. The difference is obvious to regular Palestinians. The difference in governance models is also apparent.
It is hard to understand the gains (none) that the Palestinian leadership has achieved for the people it purports to represent. Anything short of negotiating a political agreement will not be fruitful for the Palestinians.
16
Isn’t this presidency a violation of international law?
25
Whatever. The U.S. doesn’t get to decide what international law is.
23
This completely irrational action doesn't help the world in any way. It won't even help the Israeli settlers in the long run.
12
@S Pity Rabin and other reasonable Israeli leaders who spent so much time trying find a compromise. The US has buried the hopes of moderates in Israel.
NYT Article states - “Within hours of the announcement, the State Department issued a travel alert to Americans planning to visit Jerusalem, the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. “those opposed to the Secretary of State’s announcement may target US govt facilities, interests, and citizens,” the department said on Twitter.”
The only “US govt facilities, interests, and citizens”, that “Those opposed to the Secretary of State’s announcement” will be Trump (and thus Pompeo) in the 2020 election. Fairness will return for the Palestinian people then - just hang in there one more year Palestinians. Unlike Trump and Pompeo, the large majority of Americans are fair and just.
6
@Time - Space What leads you to believe that the Israelis will agree to abandon their settlements then?
1
On Nov. 22 the UN Security Coucil passed Resolution 242 banning all annexation of territory taken in the Six Day War.
This basic principle has been reaffirmed repeatedly in 52 years of international jurisprudence. The great Israeli leaders of the epoch like Abba Eban, Ben Gurion, Moshe Dayan, and Golda Meir saw the dangers of any occupation and annexation beyond a security corridor along the Jordan River.
The confiscation of Palestinian land is "inadmissible" under repeated security council resolutions, the Geneva Conventions, and the International Court of Justice.
10
@Doug Broome Returning the Golan to Syria would be insane, and no one thinks Israel will abandon the major West Bank settlement blocs and return to the pre-1967 lines, which were never recognized borders. To expect suicidal concessions after a long history of Arab aggression is absurd.
Also, you do not understand Resolution 242 or the context of the negotiations that led to its wording.
3
@Frank K:
Please elucidate how Doug Broome has misunderstood Resolution 242 . . .
@Doug Broome Palestinian land? There is no official border between Israel & Palestine so we don't know which land is Israeli & which land is Palestinian. Official borders are set by treaty. There is no treaty between Israel & Palestine setting borders.
1
Wait - Kushner and Friedman have engineered a "solution" that leaves Israel with all the marbles and the Palestinians with none? Really? Wow. I didn't see this coming at all. Most importantly, the ethnicity/religion of Kushner and Friedman had nothing to do with this decision. Not one iota. I'm just so glad that my tax dollars and my government are so even handed in the middle east. For anyone who says that the U.S. is in Israel's pocket, I say here is proof that the U.S. is as fair as fair can be.
6
@Dino:
I appreciate your satire.
I suspect many won't get it.
1
The reason is quite simple--Trump wants Jewish votes next November and he thinks all Americans of Jewish faith will be grateful and vote Repubby. He is sadly mistaken. The only Jewish votes he'll get are from people who would vote for him anyway.
I support the two-state solution, of course. But I believe that the only way for true peace is integration, not segregation. If different people live side-by-side, sharing neighborhood parks, etc., then there is less of a likelihood of violence, because you'd be blowing up your people, too.
Segregation should extend only so far as houses of worship.
If Israel really wants to be a democratic state, it must be a democratic state for all of its citizens. No Sabbath closings of stores, no grand rebbi dictating who is Jewish and who isn't or who can worship and the Western Wall and who can't.
6
@concerned Jews had been persecuted for centuries in majority-gentile countries. Even when not actively persecuting the Jews, the majority-gentile countries refused to give refuge to the Jews when they needed it. There would have been no Holocaust if majority-gentile countries would have allowed in Jewish refugees who were escaping from the Nazis. The idea of Zionism was that Jews would return to their homeland & have a majority-Jewish country because majority-gentile countries had failed to provide safety for the Jews.
2
Anyone else find it ironic that the Trump Administration is deciding the legality of, well, anything?
25
The Trump Administration in its admiration of authoritarian, strong-arm leadership, readily goes along with the grabbing of territory ---so that Crimea should belong to Russia , Syrian oil fields to America, and the West Bank in its entirety to Israel. The problem with this non-negotiated seizure of land ownership is that it leads to war. Original owners are angered to the point of war, as is happening with Ukraine and Crimea versus the Russians . Peace is far more desirable than war and peace might have been attained if experienced diplomats rather than Kushner had been the spokesman for peace.
6
What an excellent president.
Fearless.
11
So is my two year old. Maybe he should be president.
International law doesn’t exist. Stop pretending it does.
10
@Jeff Just because the US is never forced to answer for war crimes in the World Court doesn't mean that there is no International law. The US is a signatory to most of the treaties and other international agreements that are the basis of international law. You sound like a sovereign citizen who tries to pretend that law doesn't exist because it says that you have to pay your taxes.
5
Israel with America's vital assistance is pushing itself ever deeper into isolation and delusion.
Once a bastion of democracy in a sea of odious dictatorships, Israel has become sickened by hubris, hatred, and indiscriminate cruelty and violence.
By any objective assessment, Israel is nothing at all like the robust democracy it was for so many years.
Those who argue otherwise are speaking out of blind loyalty.
The delusion that has taken hold of Israel and the Trump administration is that they are right and the rest of the world is wrong. How foolish and self-deceptive.
Honest and introspective Israelis and friends of Israel know that the nation is a pariah.
No amount of false cries of anti-Semitism or chest beating will change that.
Only a national moral awakening will bring Israel back to the community of democracies.
13
@Ricardo Chavira:
What an EXCELLENT and insightful, mature commentary -- a desperately needed breath of sanity and clear-eyed objectivity.
(I'd expect nothing less from a fellow Tusconian!)
@Ricardo Chavira Still, the Palestinians in Israel lived under martial law until 1967. Not so democratic... And many farmers who were expelled in 1948 were shot as infiltrators when trying to return to their lands. Not so nice either.
Ive been following this since I was a teenager. Im now 67 and they are still bickering!!!! As long as there are Jews and Arabs its obvious there will NEVER be peace.
Maybe a little less testosterone would go a long way...
But then again......
8
this decision may likely force the Palestinians in the West Bank to declare themselves as Israeli... that should make Israel politics even more interesting... Or will Israel become a fully fledged apartheid State in response...
This decision also suggest that Trump and his advisers seem unable to see beyond the point of their noses...
4
Never thought that I would see the Israelis copy fascism There is a way to peace and this is not it.
To disregard private property rights, not to have equal rights, and to bully a solution is repeating fascism not based on a legitimate democracy but a religious government. Right wing behavior will make Putin and the Iranians very popular.
9
The headline here is misleading. This is not "the U.S." — it's the Trump administration, looking to the 2020 election and to the rapture. It's a U.S. president who lacks sufficient knowledge and caring about the effects of his actions on real lives and regional peace. And it's Pompeo and Pence, driven by their believes as to what's required in order to fulfill Biblical prophecy.
Pompeo has interjected his religious beliefs and self-ordained mission into U.S. foreign policy (especially in the Middle East) in ways that are deeply disturbing, and almost frightening. How then can events like this today be reported without also discussing that?? It's the elephant in the room that even good journalists and papers refuse to touch.
11
@Camilla:
If you are correct in your thesis regarding Pompeo and the Rapture, this is horrifying.
Indeed, it poses an equally nightmarish Catch-22: would it then be an act of insanity to successfully impeach and remove the Buffoon-in-chief from office, consequently seated a Loony Tune who could actually advocate a nuclear armageddon so as to fulfill his religious extremism?
This is the stuff of a Monty Python skit gone very, very badly.
Woe to those who voted in these ignorant extremists; blood will be in thier hands, politically and spiritually, if not literally.
We truly live in Strange Times.
The state of Israel has lost its way, and now the US has as well. I know both of these countries have done terrible things in their short histories, but now they don't even aspire to be righteous. I am disgusted, and they should know that I am nowhere near alone. We won't allow these actions to stand.
5
Too late everybody.
Donald Trump has permanently and irrevocably changed US policy in the Middle East. Jerusalem is Israel's forever-capital. Israel has permanent recognition of settlements by the US. The US has permanently ceded control of all of its interests in the Middle East to Russia.
It is done. Nothing more to see here. The 2016 Election had consequences that Americans really did not care about.
We reap what we sow.
9
@Brian or worse, the consequences have been exactly what trump's voters wanted.
3
"The settlements have been a main sticking point in peace negotiations that have failed to find a solution for generations.
Odd, I always thought the main sticking point was the PA's and Hamas's demand that Israel has "no right to exist" and Israelis (quoting them) be "pushed into the sea to drown. Who would have thought it was the settlements..after giving up Gaza worked out so well for Israel. The thing the so-called (bias reflected here) Palestinians do well is "outrage" , well, that and playing the victim card. The problem is they deal from the bottom of the deck. Frankly, I think most of the commentators here don't care a fig for this issue, but simply use it as another straw man for their rage against all things Trump. Then again, Trump probably enjoys it.
23
Well said. Most commentary doesn’t acknowledge the real history and the lack of progress over 50 years and the Palestinians rejecting all reasonable offers. If the put their guns down there would be peace, it’s that simple.
4
@Mark Shyres Well, since Palestinians (the "so called" is revealing - the same way anti-semites denied Jewish denied the rights of Jews before Israel was established) don't seem to be truly human to you, with the rights to their homes that you probably expect for yourself, the issue is really easy for you. The rage against Trump is based on his immoral and dangerous policies - this will wind up being one of his worse - Israeli will not be better off for this.
There’s no more a need for the US to be involved with this than there is in our deciding Kashmir’s fate. The rest of the world can worry about it.
1
Of course, Israeli settlements in west bank do not violate international law. They do not because the United States makes the laws, and International laws for sure.
This should be a clear message to the world that there is a de facto world RULER, and that is the United States. The United States can ORDER anything anywhere in the world and that will be the law.
So, unless the rest of the world takes note and do something about it the United States rules.
3
Trump's presidency has never been about interests of the American people, truly. Trump is in all of this because he loves the game, plus he gets to keep the gains after the game is over. Since he's never paid a price for any of his wrong doing, ever, he must believe that life will go on that way for him. So there's only one question to ask: What is in this for him?
1
Pompeo's statement reflects the reality. The Palestinians are not capable of closing a peace deal with Israel. There's a reason it hasn't every worked. And Jordan is the Palestinian country in every way: geographically, population and historically.
15
Busy busy. Just under a year until the next inauguration, Putin's gotta get everything in as quickly as possible in case Trump loses the election. Expect to see our President take some increasingly unusual steps each of which ultimately benefits Putin.
7
They do. And if not international law, they violate the laws of common decency.
7
The press accounts are all commentary. Pompeo's announcement lasts two minutes on C-Span. Listen to it.
Pompeo says that past policy inconsistent, he highlighted a Reagan statement suggesting that the settlements were not illegal, and he said Kerry shook everything up. Then, he said, we were going back to Reagan.
I was just in the West Bank and I visited two settlements. They turn your stomach. The Israeli military presence in a residential area is way excessive. The settlers are innocuous, but they do carry guns. The Palestinians are defiant. And the land is barren and not worth fighting over unless you have religious fervor.
It's all about housing in the middle of the desert. Everyone would be better off if the Israelis moved back to nearby Jerusalem and the Palestinians moved to nearby Ramallah -- both of which are far more livable than the desert. The land should be turned into a desert preserve where everybody could hike, bike and ride horses or mules or whatever. There are feral dogs in the area and they would like to get scraps from all the folks visiting the preserve.
Back to Pompeo. If I were you, I would listen to his two minute statement and read about the settlements on some neutral site and forget about the media accounts which spin the story this way and that. But beware, Pompeo is spinning too. He's not going back to Reagan. He's proposing something new.
If you get bind my desert preserve idea, we could win the Nobel Prize.
4
Trump has said what has been de facto US policy for decades. We may have occasionally mumbled about settlements and peace, but the aid spigot has continued to flow basically no matter what isreal does. The Palestinians know it and the Israelis expect it. We should support isreal as the closest to democracy that part of the world has and because the UN brought it into being. OTOH the UN has called the settlements illegal, because they are. If the Palestinian people and the other arabs suspected that the US not only bank rolled Israelis actions but sanctioned them behind the scene, they no longer have to wonder. The Israelis don't have to even consider making any concessions now. So war will go on.
3
Since when does the president of the USA have any power, or right to determine international law. Dont like it? Take it to the World Court. This so called president needs to go.
2
@resident1728
Who empowered the World Court. The U.S. has not accepted its jurisdiction. But you are right in this sense. There i snow final arbiter of international law, and therefore anything, pro or con, is mere opinion, some better reasoned and some worse, and some opinion is a mere act of will; I do not like Isreal and therefore the settlements are illegal and therefore the opposing arguments are wrong.
1
Since the U.S.A. was the lead force in wining World War II.
The settlements can be a moot point in peace. If you want it.
Two state solution but the jewish settlements stay. And pay taxes to support their new state.
Dual citizenships.
Palestinians already live in Israel as second class citizens. Israelis can live in Palestine as second class citizens.
Mirror diplomacy.
Yes... Details, details... The two Jerusalems will be a problem for the post office.
5
Well, it's a good thing that that's not up to the US to make that determination!
1
It seems every time Mr. Trump is caught up in a mess, and consequently he feels his re-election chances are in jeopardy, he tries to make Israelis happy. My guess is that, in his mind, he equates Jewish Americans with Israelis; that is, he believes doing Israelis a favor will translate to Jewish votes for him in the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump is raised in Queens, New York City. If he was bright, by now he would know that US Jewish voters are among the most sophisticated voting groups. Not only they will not be influenced by political ruses, but they will see right through him.
Conceivably, Mr. Trump's decision on Israeli settlements could be contrary to the United States long-term interest in Middle East. If Jewish American voters reach the same conclusion, they would think twice before voting for Mr. Trump. The decision may in fact appear as an orchestrated attempt in manipulating them. In that case, their resentment will not be limited to Mr. Trump, but will be extended to the entire Republican party.
4
This is all about the Evangelical vote and nothing else.
11
@TSL Let us say it is. Most policy has something to do with votes. So what.
ISIS sexual enslavement of Yazidi girls and women isn't a "violation of international law" either.
In fact nothing is a "violation of international law."
Never. Ever. No way. No how.
So speaketh Pompeth.
5
A while back during the tone deaf celebration of Trump moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem; Jared & Ivanka yukking it up, Bibi all smiles ... what a happy group ...
I knew that it was just a matter of time before today's announcement.
I harbor no illusions: both sides are guilty of various provocations. But to name Kushner, orthodox jew and family friend of Netanyahu, America's representative was beyond a slap in the face. Whatever Kushner's skill as a negotiator, do we really expect the Palestinians to view him as 'neutral' and the process 'fair'?
A while back there was an article showing Jared & Bibi leaving Saudi Arabia after a meeting. It was followed by a deal giving the Saudis not just Raytheon missiles but, a first, the technical information to produce them. A few weeks earlier a former Raython executive had become part of the Trump administration .... I'm not sure what is the connection, but I have no illusions.
Drain the swam and you find a cesspool.
6
Don’t forget to send Donald a ‘thank you’ note Bibi & be sure to name another settlement after him.
9
As if the United States government can make such a proclamation about international law... Our President condones war crimes by pardoning U.S. military war criminals. Now his administration condones the aggressive taking of Palestinians’ land. Trump is a would be dictator. Of course he thinks this is all OK. Hopefully, the House will impeach this criminal President and the Senate will be forced by public sentiment to seriously try him. He is so far beyond the pale of acceptable presidential behavior that it is a national disgrace...
25
This has been a long time coming and it comes from a strange source but there is no doubt that allowing Jews to live anywhere in their ancient homeland is not illegal and is in fact the only moral outcome.
17
Using that logic, native Americans should have the right to all of the United States again, the picts should regain England. The Israelites were kicked out of Judea 2000 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes to create Israel and more lose their homes every year so that Israel can continue expanding.
Tyranny, invasions of other’s land on the global menu. Tariff wars will lead to currency wars followed by economic depression. WWIII follows and things will return to 51: as in countries.
2
Everything trump touches dies.
16
Trump is good on China and Israel. Go figure.
5
@David_60:
'Tis a no-brainer: just following the money . . .
Hey, I must have missed it: show me the realistic prospects for peace in the Middle East that just got scuttled. I honestly don't recall reading anything about that in America's newspaper of record.
18
The real question here is "how is Trump making money from this?" Any endeavor to understand the policy or strategic reasons behind the decision is just wasted effort.
9
Dear Democrat, Liberal, Leftist, Progressive, Never-Trumpers: Here's your real reason to vote the Trumps out of office. Forever.
7
Impressive how Jared Kushner has been able to be extremely successful, with his housing business in Israel. His companies have been investing heavily, constructing housing on Palestinian land annexed by the State of Israel. He must be extremely grateful to his father in law.
19
How many Palestinians and Israelis will eventually die because of this policy? It's one thing to accept Trump's laughable bungling, his billion dollar wall that drug dealers are cutting through with $100 tools from Home Depot, his actions and tweets that reveal his illiteracy regarding the Constitution, his insane rallies, but America has to get this fool out of office. He's caused thousands of deaths in the Ukraine and in Syria (Kurds) and has already caused deaths when he moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Dump Trump should be a bumper sticker on every automobile in the country.
16
At this point, I firmly believe the cheesy Russians really are influencing everything.
11
Corrupt President and a corrupt Secretary of State assisting their partner in corruption Netanyahu. Maybe a short term political gain but a long term loss for progress to peace.
14
I was a supporter of Israel. Now I am a supporter of the B.D.S. movement, that is unless Israel rejects the new US position.
11
Wait, isn't this Administration in the throes of an impeachment hearing. First let's see if we have a criminal president, if so, then there should be a moratorium on major foreign policy decisions; and all policy for that matter.
14
How can the GOP stand by as this unstable and uninformed man threatens aid to the Ukrainians, abandons the Kurds, and now torpedoes the potential for a two-state solution? It is plain for all the world to see that Trump is unwell and unfit to serve. His erratic actions are harming allies and yet the GOP sticks. What is wrong with our country?
16
Like Palestine much of the Ukraine was part of the Ottoman Empire.
Why on earth would anyone inject themselves into this mess?
The US should be moving away from unconditional support of Israel. Our interests are NOT the same.
Is this simply a way to divert attention from the mess at home in the US?
22
@cynicalskeptic
What does Hamas want to do after it defeats Israel?
When the rocket attacks first began against Israel, a senior Hamas leader, Dr. Yunis Al-Astal, published an article in the Hamas journal, Al-Risala, where he compared Hamas’ al-Qassam rockets to the Manjaniq catapult which the Prophet Muhammad used against the Jews of Khaybar. The fall of Khaybar, he explained, opened the gates of the Byzantine Empire to Muslim conquest and was the first step towards the fall of Constantinople. Now, the fall of Israel, he said, would open the gates of Europe to Islam and lead to the fall of Rome.
Hamas MP and cleric Al-Astal proclaimed in 2008, “We will conquer Rome, and from there continue to conquer the two Americas and even Eastern Europe” (Al-Aqsa TV, April 11, 2008)
Once Hamas defeats the Saturday people, they're coming after the Sunday people. It’s in our interest to give Israel weapons so that Israeli soldiers will fight Hamas over there so we won’t need to have American soldiers fight Hamas over here.
1
We have lost all credibility because of Trump so why would anyone in the rest of the world even care what the United States thinks about anything?
15
"We" have not lost all credibility. The U.S. remains the dominant force in all important domains -- education, technology, engineering, science, economics, etc. Though the global influence of the U.S. is waning the nation will continue it's preiminince in spite of Donald Trump. -- "A Little Rebellion Now and Then is a Good Thing: A Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison."
What authoritarian leader is there where Trump isn't a puppet? none.
5
“We’ve recognized the reality on the ground,”
Translation: might makes right. Further, it will help DJT with Evangelicals and the "Israel can do no wrong" group.
Nothing to see here, move along.
11
This will come back to bite Israel in the end. Trump won't be President forever and Israel has lost at least two generations of American voters who view their policies vis a vis the Palestinians as abhorrent.
13
Agreed. Once we become a majority Muslim nation The US will no longer support Israel.
4
How shameful. The Trump administration continues to drag our country's ability to serve as an honest broker in the Middle East down the drain.
9
In the end, the people of the world will decide. Nations will break diplomatic relations with Israel, nations will not trade with Israel, there will be boycotts, divestments in Israeli-owned enterprises, and maybe sanctions.
The Israelis who have brought this upon themselves may blame everyone else for being "anti-semitic" and repeat that "everybody is against the Jews." It is all very sad.
7
@John You are probably right. North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, etc.; all outraged by any violation of civil rights will cut relations with Israel.
However, the statistics tell different story. Israel does billions of dollars of trade with the EU, U.S., Canada, England, in other words, all those countries who have no respect for law and human rights.
@John - Who started the war in 1948 ? 6 Arab countries invaded Israel , who started war 1967 the arabs. The Palestinian people have Jordan they do not want peace,with israel . Besides they have more rights in israel than any other arab country .
4
trump thinks if he pardons enough criminal acts, then maybe he will have support of all criminals and win
5
$100 this has to do with throwing another bone to Bibi as Gantz has two more days to form a coalition government. Anything to make things more difficult for Gantz.
"Over the next two days, Israel’s almost year-long political crisis is set to become even more fraught as Benny Gantz, the former military chief who now heads the largest party in parliament, makes a final bid to assemble a governing coalition before the Wednesday deadline.
His options are limited. The most obvious choice — uniting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party — appears increasingly unlikely, while forming a government dependent on smaller parties with sharply conflicting ideologies seems an almost impossible gamble.
Gantz has until midnight Wednesday to announce a government, then secure enough support in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to approve the new configuration."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/bid-by-netanyahus-rival-to-form-a-new-israeli-government-enters-final-fraught-stretch/2019/11/18/b0511404-0a0e-11ea-8054-289aef6e38a3_story.html
2
Here writes one American Jew not in favor of Trump’s change of policy. And I know I don’t stand alone.
And, I suppose, this is all part of Jarred’s brilliant plan for peace in the Middle East?
Eat dust, Mr President. You just set Israeli/Arab peace back another generation. Good work. I hope Sheldon Adelson gives you a worthy sum of money for this absolutely destructive step towards any hope of Middle East peace.
14
It's all so petty and disappointing. One expects better from the inheritors of the traditions of Moses and Jesus.
2
Expediency. Forget about tomorrow.
There's going to be major war within 10 years. If the US doesn't care about international law anymore, why should anyone else? Everything is up for grab, and we have a group of world "leaders" who are utterly shameless, avaricious, amoral and brazen.
564
@Richard Smith
I have said on many occasions that we need to have a war, perhaps a large scale war, to settle these issues. The United States is nudging towards that inch by inch. A direct confrontation with the United States would be suicidal, if the US decided to use nuclear weapons... it would be suicidal for the US as well. However, a proxy war to settle the issues in the middle east is not at all out of the question. This is why Turkey has purchased the S400 systems and Iran has been developing its own weaponry. I recommend Iran to build and test, YES build and test, a nuclear weapon to thwart such a war and bring Israel in line.
Israel should return to its pre 67 war and then there should be talk of negotiations. If Israel does not do that, a war is imminent to push it to those boundaries, and it might even include the obliteration of Israel by one of the regional nations... Israel is very small compared to the nations around it... and Israel should see that CLEARLY.
11
@Richard Smith
The US does care about international law, but has realized that its original belief that the settlements are illegal was wrong. The settlements are perfectly legal.
7
@Richard Smith Anymore? The US has flouted international law for decades. Regime change and torture are prime examples, which should, in theory, subject the US to prosecution in the ICC -- except for the fact that the US has refused to be a party to the Rome Statute and so has exempted itself from prosecution.
14
There is only one truth I know, and it is this: The nation fo Israel exists, as do the Palestinian people and the land they have inhabited for generations. Any party who would deny the existence or rights of the other is living in a dangerous fantasy land.
These settlements are an infringement on any hope of there ever being an independent Palestinian state. To allow them to continue, to spread, is basically Israel admitting they have designs of making the Palestinian Territories either a permanent part of Israel or a vassal state (probably the later), in which Palestinians are more likely than not to end up as second-class citizens in perpetuity. This WILL lead to another bloody civil strife, one that will engulf generations for decades to come.
9
Is this what Boy Wonder Jared has to show for all his expertise and hard work as a Middle East peace envoy?
12
“Expertise” in this case requires scare quotes.
Jared has as much expertise about the Middle East as my two month old baby.
3
Trump pandering to right wing Christians, who, frankly, are being hustled by Israel who views them as fools.
12
As long as a single non-jew is living and voting Israeli, the term "Jewish Democracy" is an oxymoron.
4
The settlements are not the fundamental issue stopping peace from breaking out. Israel gave back the Sinai and the part of Gaza they controlled, and they will give back most of the West Bank as soon as the Palestinians decide that Jews can live in the area in peace.
As soon as the Palestinians get a leader who is able and willing to enforce a peace, a Palestinian state will come into being.
People who know nothing of what’s really going on harp on settlements. They are the effect, not the cause.
19
@G :
If by " a leader who is able and willing to enforce a peace" you mean:
One who can sell the idea that the citizens of a Palestinian state would have no land rights, limited or no rights of movement, no control over resources, all within a discontinuous territory, then yes, you could conceivably end up with an agreement for such a state.
The odds are against such an agreement . Some of the disagreement hinges on the definition of " in the area". Not to harp, but the settlements are not an incidental element of the dispute.
1
what would Trump or Pompeo know about international law?
7
We cannot unilaterally make this decision without the UN but sadly that institution is pretty nutless.
Putin must be happy
2
Israel will not force the Palestinians out except by the means used against Jews across Eurasia since the Romans expelled so many from Palestine. It worked very well in Spain in the 15th century.
2
The NYTimes asserts that recognizing the settlements impedes the "peace process." They are clearly wrong on this point because there is no "peace process" and their hasn't been one for years.
Anyone who thinks that the US as neutral broker in a potential peace process is either naive or foolish. Both Israeli main political parties, Likud and Labor have made it clear for years that their would be a process of gradual annexation of Palestinian land and slow but steady ethnic cleaning of the the Palestinians.
This broker role was all done for domestic US consumption because the American people, while very supportive of Israel would not in the 21st century endorse the policies we applied to Native people in the 19th century.
But that's exactly what we've done. The Trump administration has simply decided to be open with what Democrats have been dancing around.
The Israeli's have an official policy that Palestinians can never be more than 20% of the population of Israel. So as Israel expands, Palestinians must be removed.
Some of the removal will be the result of land confiscation. Others will leave because of the harshness of the occupation. Still others will be herded into ghettos, unable to use roads or streets segregated for Jewish use only.
This is what is being done with our tax dollars and in our name. At least the issues is now unmistakably clear. Is this (ethnic cleansing) what the American people believe in?
I hope not. But you never know.
4
I think this is unintentionally good. Since Israel has a plan to move millions of people who live in the West bank, and without giving Palestinians living in the west bank equal rights, unless we'r looking at the next South Africa, which I don't think there is room in the world for it. One country for all is the answer.
3
Netanyahu thinks it is business as usual in the US and an endorsement by Trump is worth seeking out. He’s wrong on all accounts. A Trump endorsement is something to avoid these days as it screams corruption plain and simple.
4
If the United States truly valued its relationship with Israel, Pompeo never would have issued this edict. It puts Israelis in peril, and disrupts any potential for negotiations in the future toward a two-state solution. This constitutes another disastrous decision on the part of this administration when it comes to Middle East policy. We’re still waiting for Jared’s brilliant solution to the vexing issues facing the region. Not holding our breath.
3
Yes, feet on the ground makes it real clear, doesn't it. For some reason Russia's grab for eastern Ukraine, their entry and constructing bases in Syria, and oh by the way should we mention the Crimea? It all seems very acceptable according to Pompeo.
1
The US is simply no longer a viable negotiator in the Middle East. Russia, the EU and China will step in to fill this void as best as they can.
2
@Rob - Here comes the New Silk Road.
1
The Middle East needs a Switzerland, a neutral financial center and haven for the dispossessed. The large region controlled by the Kurds is the place and the Kurds are the people. Kurdisland.
3
@A. Reader:
A quaint idea.
Good luck with that.
I'm Jewish. I've lived in Israel. If the settlements don't violate someone's notion of what's legal - in my opinion --- they're still wrong. That land is Palestine. My hope - that Israel's government will wake up and recognize the State of Palestine.
11
The interference by Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo on the political behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu is a rejection of the two-state solution, which has been part of American foreign policy for decades.
By condoning and encouraging the new settlements in the West Bank, this move condemns Israel to the creation of an Apartheid state or to absorbing all of the Palestinians as new citizens of Israel, which would eventually -- because of the disparate birth rates -- cause Israel to lose its identity.
In belittling the notion that Israeli settlements in the West Bank violate international law, Trump and Pompeo reverse a position taken by the United States in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter.
That position was very useful, as anyone knows who remembers the Camp David Accords attended by Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel. Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize Israel's right to exist, which led to a peace treaty the following year-1979.
3
The U.S. did not say this. An unqualified man who supports unlimited Presidential abuses claimed this. I do not support settlements and I do not support the Trump regime. I am a U.S, citizen.
8
Saying so doesn't make it so.
Only in the Trump world does that exist.
4
Back to the drawing board, Jared.
8
Let's face it, The Trump administration endangered all present and future settlers in the West Bank today. He essentially restarted the middle East conflict through sadistic sparking of hatred and anger, just as he did to here to win.
12
This isn’t a good thing for Israel. For this to be acknowledged by the most corrupt president in our American history; isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for your side of an argument. Especially when it’s condemned by every other major country. The only thing that’s going to happen is the next president that comes in (especially if a Democrat) will reverse these policies immediately.
9
Please don’t despair - our illustrious president has appointed Jarred Kushner to “solve the Middle East.” Surly with Mr. Kushner’s vast experience, strong intellect and diligent work ethic this will all be wrapped up in no time. Just because daddy “donated” $2.5 million to Harvard the year he was accepted doesn’t mean he didn’t earn that security clearance and his senior position in the White House.
Dear Jarred Kushner: please comment in and let all of us know how your plans for the Middle East are coming along. Thank you.
9
@Aerys Well, Trump inflicted Giuliani (? sicked) on the Ukraine in spite of conflicts with thirty year diplomats, so why wouldn't he do the same to the middle east with Kushner? Come on! Kushner is young and, admittedly, has no political experience, but being born with a silver spoon in your mouth has to count for something.
2
The rest of the world will take note that trump is continuing down the path of disastrous foreign policy decisions and move on without him and the US. Our country has lost nearly all credibility world wide. N. Korea today announced it is refusing further meetings, China deals are not forthcoming, etc. We are the laughing stock of the world. Waiting for the election to rid the country of trump’s “leadership” only puts the US in a deeper hole.
10
The truth has never been much of a concern to the Trump administration.
It will be hard for any US administration to remain relevant to the rest of the world after the ongoing fiasco that is Trump foreign policy. Simply put, no American diplomatic statement is worthwhile. American politicians have wholesale thrown out consistency in policy making. Today the USA is engaged in peace building, tomorrow it is reversing itself on every policy of importance for decades. A pity how quickly a nation can shred every amount of good will it ever built.
Angela Merkel was right. The rest of the world just can’t rely on the US anymore.
5
Sad to say I don’t think this move really matters in regards to peace. I think peace happening in that region is nothing but a pipe dream.
8
The world is going through a process of realignment whereby people are coalescing around shared causes and values rather than borders and nation states. A lot of this is driven by the ascendance of the first generation born into the digital age, who unlike their predecessors are truly connected and better able to navigate the internet in search of facts.
Many seemingly regressive developments such as this will benefit progressive causes in the long term. The Palestinians may not be winning any political or territorial concessions at the moment but they are winning global good will especially among the young who are able to distill the issue, with the help of the Trump and Netanyahu governments, into basic human rights and wrongs.
In fact if I was developing strategies for the Israeli and American right i would be doing anything but what they have been doing as it is losing them precious international standing. The fact that they are doing this is either a grave oversight or more likely the actions of those who are aware that they are on the losing side and that their time in power is coming to an end. Ironically this is not only because of the ascendance of the digital natives but also because having relied on fear mongering for so long they no longer have enough space to maneuver their positions while maintaining the support of their constituents. Their only hope is to try and shore up as much power as possible while gradually giving up any pretence of democratic values.
4
@Zg I appreciate your point of view. It may be time for the world to become better as the US becomes a partner rather than a leader. Perhaps it should have been this way all along. We need developing nations to have power over there own resources to the benefit of their own people. In our newly diminished role as troops are withdrawn from around the world and our military industrial complex shrinks (in my dreams!), would we then begin to house and provide medical care for all? This seems a fair payment for four years of this administration.
1
@Zg
"shore up as much power as possible while gradually giving up any pretence of democratic values."
Such a policy has worked well for neighboring Saudi Arabia, a nation that has not stepped up to support their fellow Muslims on the West Bank.
2
@Mike Edwards I don't know that Saudi Arabia ever pretended to have democratic values :) I'm not sure if you're comment is meant as a critisism or simply pointing a parallel. If the former I hope we don't gauge our own positions and actions by comparing them to those of Saudi.
1
It is hard to be a supporter of Israel's settlement activity on the West Bank.
But in spite of Trump, facts still matter.
1. And the fact is that the West Bank has been undertone jurisdiction of a native sovereign since the Israelites were exiled. Its that time, it has been controlled by the Byzantines, Egyptians, Ottomans, British and others.
2. Arabs rejected a sovereignty plan over the West Bank in 1947 and at least twice more recently. Again, the fact is that the territory was used in 1948 as a launching pad to destroy the nascent Jewish State.
I think Israel is wrong here, and that many of the West Bank settlements pose an obstacle to peace.
But "illegal"? The Israeli claim is certainly much stronger than our own claim as British, European and other immigrants to the United States, a land where we had no historical rights or connection, and which required a genocide to conquer.
16
Hopefully Israel realizes these statements from Trump does not allow it to build more. Any future administration will overturn this stance as otherwise there will be no peace. Our country is the weakest one in the world right now, has lost the trust of all the good people and furthermore the rest of the world doesn't think the same as usa when it comes to the middle east. I hope all Israelis have the moral sense to ignore Trump administration in it's entirety.
4
During the Last days of the bush admin israel unleashed a brutal fury on Gaza. This was partly due a feeling that they would not be able to get away with such brutality under an Obama presidency. This move while disgusting and wrong may signal that the writing is on the wall for this admin and that they will try and get as many hawkish pro israel things done as possible before it comes to an end.
3
I have always been behind Israel but the actions of Trump defy reason and logic. The Palestinians and Israelis have been fighting each other for hundreds of years. They both live by beliefs and rules that are beyond Trumps capabilities of understanding. Why would anyone place themselves between two mortal enemies and pick a side?
I suspect this is a very dangerous attempt to, once again, try to change American focus away from himself. Or, is this a precursor to legitimizing the Russian annexation of part of the Ukraine? The relations between Israel and Palestine would be far better served by diplomats!
266
@Deborah well, there were no Israelis until 1948 so I don’t think they have been fighting for hundreds of years...
58
@Deborah. The Arabs have been oppressing the Jews in their midst, off and on, sometimes murdering them in cold blood but always treating them as a despised minority without rights, since the advent of Islam.
When the international community determined in 1922 that the Jewish people had a right to return to their historical homeland - recently liberated from the Ottoman Empire - the Arabs rejected that decision and each and every compromise since. Creating Jordan from three-quarters of the designated Jewish homeland was insufficient for them.
If self-described Progressives really walked the walk of justice, they would act to give the region’s other indigenous groups the ability to exercise their own right to self-determination rather than seek to deprive the one successful indigenous group of its freedom and return them to the tender mercies of their earlier dispossessed imperial conqueror, the Arabs.
30
@Deborah
Whatever those outside Israel may say is of no importance.
We will do what is in our best interest.
If Trump chooses to support it, so much the better.
As it stands, all the major players in Israel are united in supporting the Pompeo statement. This not only includes Netanyahu but also his opposition, Gantz.
No one in Israel who opposes this will be taken seriously.
Every people must think of themselves first when making decisions.
This land is ancestral Jewish land and anyone who argues otherwise will never be taken seriously in Israel.
19
Except that it is a violation of international law and Pompeo saying it isn't doesn't change that fact, and he is smart enough to know this. Hard to believe he did it to undermine Kushner's non-existent "peace plan", so one wonders what shenanigans and/or political miscalculations are underlying this statement.
5
@Mark It's not a violation of international law!
Please provide a quote from international law that is being violated by the settlements. Be specific.
2
Trump reverses policies with so damaging results that they defy any comprehension.
Climate change, EPA, National Parks, relationship with allies, etc. They all have devastating consequences-
Democrats in the 2020 elections will have to vote for the one candidate who wins the primaries- period.
3
Trump’s foreign policy by surprise announcement (Iran treaty, Paris accords, Kurd betrayal, North Korea, etc) has thus far been highly successful at spreading American chaos - the trumpian form of imperialism.
Nothing is approached incrementally. Just huge reversals of major policies. I don’t object to policy changes to try different ways to get stubborn problems resolved but going nuclear on everything is irresponsible.
I doubt a career ambassador would have agreed to this policy restructuring. In fact 5 former US Ambassadors to Israel questioned his appointment because of his ‘extreme radical positions’ on the conflict. Alas ambassador Friedman is a political appointee with an interesting history with his pal Trump.
He was Trump’s Atlantic City bankruptcy attorney. Jared is Trump’s son in law. Clearly the two most qualified and experienced peacemakers in the world.
7
I'm quite glad that most see this as a travesty. The tides are turning.
7
"The reality on the ground" often does not march in step with international law. That's why there is international law.
3
Palestinians have said “No” over and over and over. There has been no compromise their leadership has been willing to accept.
From the proposed dual state in 1948 on to the present, it’s been no, no, no, no. They had virtually everything they asked for with the proposed 2001 settlement, but Arafat and Hamas would not would not admit Israel’s right to exist. No, to Olmert’t proposal, etc.
Did it never occur to Palestinian leadership that Israel and the USA would stop making offers? Especially hard right pols? This is a disaster for the Palestinian people but utterly foreseeable.
It’s terribly dangerous for the rest of the Middle East, too, and has the potential of drawing major powers into an ugly proxy war. Civilians and soldiers will bear the brunt while callous leaders play Risk. Exported terrorism is likely to increase, as neighboring Arab States, never caring about Palestinians other than a source of cheap labors, condone terrorist attacks through inaction, giving their down trodden citizens a spectacle and diversion rather than economic opportunity. Employment prospects for young non-college educated American men is likely to improve in the government sector.
What a mess.
8
U.S. foreign policy is lurching from bad to worse. Pompeo's announcement will guarantee that no peace agreement will ever occur between Israel and Palestinians. And as the article references, such an endorsement of West Bank settlements runs against previous U.S. policy and longstanding UN positions. All for the purpose of bailing out Trump's buddy, Netanyahu, who is beginning to appear, sadly, as another corrupt politician.
304
@Larry Kane
Settlements actually make a 2-state solution more likely. Draw a border. Those settlements on the Palestinian side of the border become part of Palestine. The settlers become Palestinian citizens. Because settlers are generally wealthier than Palestinians, their presence in a Palestinian state would make that state economically viable.
4
@m1945 Hmmm. you mean that when the new border is negotiated, the settlements will be part of Palestine? I don't see how either side would want that.
The Israelis in the settlements certainly would not as they want to be Israelis in Israel not expats living in a foreign country.
As for the Palestinians, they might see such arrangement as an invitation to take back the settlements for their own people, but more likely as a Trojan Horse by which the settlements could expand to displace more Palestinians inside their (the Palestinians) own country.
BTW, interesting issue of distinction between in which the country the settlements are included as matter of law versus which people inhabit the settlement. That is a "facts on the ground" sort of argument laid as the basis for the legalization of the settlements in the first place; and all the more hint at what would follow if Trump-Netanyahu mind-set keeps prevailing.
4
@Larry Kane
I don't believe it's "all for the purpose of…Trump's buddy, Netanyahu."
Certainly that's a big part of it, but I see this as all of a piece with his buddy Putin in Crimea and his buddy Erdogan in Syria and the internment camps on both sides of our southern border. This isn't all coincidental.
Much like America's War for Independence sparked a move toward democracies, or the "Arab Spring" movement, I see this as a concerted effort to upend international relations around the world in contradiction of twentieth-century alliances in favor of a new world order of authoritarian states.
This is 1984 and, after two world wars to save that continent and the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, Russia has installed puppets in the U.S. and several other countries around the world and we are suddenly turning against the idea of a united Europe.
Donald Trump's years-long negotiations with China figure into this, as the world's major powers eschew human rights standards and deploy counter democratic measures and psychological operations to exert control over groups they wish to disenfranchise and diminish.
7
Trump is trying to do as much self-centered damage as he can before impeachment. There’s money in Trump’s pocket somewhere in this.
4
Are we surprised? Is Trump deliberately trying to destroy the last vestiges of credibility and decency in the foreign policy of the United States? The only one to benefit from this is Putin. Is that the reason?
3
Another way trump has destabilized there middle east. Like pulling US out of the Iran deal (that was working) all at Netanyahu's bidding. Making large groups of desperate people more desperate (Iran) and squeezing the Palestinians even more, everyday trump seems to create more hatred and divisiveness in the world....Another very bad decision. There will never be any kind of peace anywhere while trump is around.
1
It seems that the right of conquest has returned to international law. Will the State Department issue new maps?
2
They do violate international law. But the US' current administration has decided to just do as NK does - not care about law. The US is losing any standing it had left in the world. How can the US criticized China then?
2
With the reason stated by the Secretary of State that we are only recognizing the reality on the ground what’s to stop him or how can he argue against not recognizing Russia’s land grabs now or in the future. Very bad precedent indeed.
330
@Paul
How did the U.S. of America come to be?
If you aren't strong enough to hold your land, you lose it. This is true of countries and individuals.
We are in danger of losing our country if we permit the ultra-liberals (who call themselves "elites") to have their way and allow unlimited immigration.
3
@Paul
He can argue because he said so.
From the Jerusalem Post
America, Pompeo said, was also not prejudging the ultimate status of the West Bank. That, he said, would need to be worked out by the sides. In addition, he stressed that the new policy was not applicable to other situations around the world.
The US policy, Pompeo said, was “based on the unique facts, history and circumstances presented by the establishment of civilian settlements in the West Bank.”
2
@Raz And following your counsel, we would all run the risk of losing our civil way of life and living. Of course, that is not something many claim they would miss. One might suggest being careful what you wish for is prudent and wise because the vast majority of even the most dedicated of them would most likely miss it a lot once it was gone, but by that point it it may well be too late to reconsider.
8
Expect Israeli Intelligence to interfere on Trumps behalf for his reelection bid.
24
Dems; if you do not vote out the GOP; then you share the blame for all this hate . Ray Sipe
3
Do we need anymore proof that the US is Israel’s puppet?
12
International Law is a fickle construct. The Middle East has been for more than 1000 years a focus of trilateral Islamo-Judeo-Christian animosities. it remains bipolar Islamo-Judaic cauldron.
Trump's declaration is of no significance to (non-attainable) peace. He might as well twitter one day that Alsace and Lorraine belong to Germany, Channel Islands to France, the Aegean Islands to Turkey, and Mexico is part of the US "manifest destiny".
2
Israel has finally gotten what it wanted. Now we can wish them luck and go home.
6
So, those Honduran settlements on the Texas side of the Rio Grande no longer violate international law....?
OK, then.
16
You win the internet today.
1
If the Trump administration gave me permission to rob my neighbor's house, I wouldn't do it. Israel, it is your move.
4
OK all you dual citizens.. "Live in the safety of NYC" ... Time for a deployment? Ready to fight for the Middle east when you were born and raised in New York City!
6
The Golan Heights, the embassy shift Jerusalem, and now this. When we see Trump kowtow to the Kremlin, we assume the rumours are true, and Russia has something on the wretched occupant of the Oval Office. Could the same apply to Israel? Does the Mossad know something about Trump that Trump doesn't want anyone else to know?
8
Just another typical day under the Trump TV show game host dictatorship. The nightmare continues maybe even for another 5 years.
4
So now the U.S. joins Likud's attempt to ignite a new war in Gaza. I guess the goal is to prove how "indispensable" Netanyahu is.
3
These settlements do not violate international land because they all lay on historic Jewish land.
When the Jews were exiled by the Romans in 70 AD they vowed to return.
We have.
We are not leaving.
We will build on all of our land without exception.
13
When the European colonists landed on what is now Anerican shores and took over the North American continent, the historical owners of the land (who are now called American Indians), were pushed off most of the land,m They too, vowed to come back.
If they do, should the world recognize them as rightful owners of theis land? Should Israelis? How much foreign aid would flow from the US to Israel under those circumstances?
I defend Israel and its sovereign rights, including the rights to self protection and preservation. But to allow gangs of hooligans to invade and occupy land, which historically belonged to their ancestors, is no better than the Russians occupying Crimea or Germany occupying Sudentenland. We can no longer have might over right and maintain a peaceful planet, much less a peaceful Middle East.
Hear that, Palestinians? You’re not convincing anyone with rocket and other attacks into Israel, either.
And Trump, if you want to be seen as an honest peace broker in that neighborhood, you need to start reversing a lot of your policies - including Jerusalem as the capital and the Golan Heights as Israeli property. The Heights may be necessary for Israeli security, but sanctioning it ain’t gonna lend a hand to peace.
1
@Simon Sez Fine, Simon, and I’ll expect you to quit your residence in Maryland to let the original native Americans have their land back.
70 AD, indeed.
4
When the exception of a few years prior Roman rule, Israel stopped being a sovereign nation when Alexander invaded 2,300 years ago. Are we to redraw borders and reconstitute kingdoms everywhere that existed at the time? Native Americans "owned" your US land much more recently than Israel existed. Should we give them back sovereignty? Just because a tribal record filled with pseudo-history, tribal law, and myth says something doesn't mean the world is supposed to agree.
Israel has tried to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians for years- In fact in 2000 at Camp David Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians full sovereignty in nearly all of the West Bank” and portions of Jerusalem ... but it was turned down by Arafat...
... Later ( after Arafat) another Ehud ... this time, Ehud Olmert offered the Palestinians all of the above and even swaps of land in Israel - in compensation for the any land adjustments - and again it was turned down by the Palestinians ...
In fact, the Palestinians kept on demanding All of the territory taken by Israel in the 1967 War - and For those who are unfamiliar with the geography of the region - that would put the Palestinians about 10 Miles from Tel Aviv and Israel’s heartland.
- No Country in the World would allow even a former enemy to come so close to it’s heartland -
Nonetheless, since then, Israel has offered to settle the dispute with the Palestinians on a fair basis .,. only to be turned down again and again...
- the late Israeli statesman, Abba Eban, once said that the “Palestinians never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity” -
- Well, the Palestinians have again lost their opportunity... because the Palestinians have never wanted to exist WITH Israel - only to REPLACE Israel “from the River to the Sea” -
- to which Israel has said, “from the River to the Sea - Palestine will NEVER be”
11
"U.S. says. . . " Well, since the Unites States is on a rather odd sabbatical at the moment, let's just take all of that with a bitter grain of salt. Wait until January 20, 2021, and things will be a bit different - to say the least.
4
This is what Europeans do: take the land of others, if and when they can, if and when they want. Jews (half my people) and Palestinian Arabs lived together often quite peacefully for centuries in Palestine, basically dating back before Christ. But 20th century capitalist Christian & Jewish Europeans wanted that land, and now they are taking it. Very, very violently.
The most ridiculous lie the enabling American love to tell: we need a great ally in the Middle East. What do we do in the Middle East that requires we have an ally? I mean even after we carved it up into proto-kingdoms that never existed before our imperial interests manifested themselves.
13
"Against International Law" means that when Egypt, Syria, and Jordan joined forces to annihilate Israel in 1967, the world did nothing to stop them, and only a miracle of the IDF prevented that annihilation. In the aftermath, there was no international law sanction of those three nations, nor sanction of Jordan in 1988 for renouncing responsibility for the territory of the West Bank like the people there were garbage in a Dumpster. In a situation of international law like this, international law isn't worth the paper on which it is written.
12
Remember that whole bit from two years ago about how Jared Kushner was going to craft a landmark peace deal?
Is Trump doing all of this to appease the likes of Sheldon Adelson? Or does it have more to do with the fact that, in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu appears in billboards with Vladimir Putin, and that Donald Trump Jr. met with at least one Israeli social-media firm (Psy Group) in the lead-up to the 2016 election?
6
It is pretty clear now: Given a choice, we can count on Trump and his administration to make the wrong one as well as one that is appalling destructive and cruel.
It's a choice: Vote Republican? Then please explain why.
8
Laws are not the same as ethics or moral precepts.
5
Trump is doing what previous presidents have not done: he is being honest about the US's de facto position on the settlements. Too many presidents before him offered milquetoast statements condemning further settlement construction but didn't actually do anything about them. Those presidents--Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan--continued to fund the same Israeli military billions of dollars every year, the same military that protects settlers as they steal Palestinian land and burn Palestinian olive trees, the same military that enforces one set of laws for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and another set of laws for Israeli settlers in the same place, the same military that imprisons Palestinian children and convicts them at a rate close to 100%, the same military that clears Palestinian land to build an illegal wall around illegal Israeli settlements, the same military that kills Palestinians with impunity, and so on and so on. Trump's declaration will not bring us any closer to peace, justice, and equality, but at least he is being honest.
7
@Bob Well, there’s that.
1
Every extra hour the 45th president remains in office threatens not only the USA but the entire world. How low will you allow him to go?
10
Another attempt by Trump to capture a few Jewish votes, and certainly another victory for Sheldon Adelson. This was probably an integral part of the Kushner "peace" plan.
4
Soon the Republicans will repeal the law of gravity too.
16
It is incredible that Israel's people do not see the parallels between Netanyahu and other occupiers across history. I've always supported a refuge and home for the persecuted and disenfranchised.
My father fought Hitler in WWII based on that.
In this case, the future endless war Israel will be fighting is in large part now being brought upon it by itself.
Of course, the USA's part in this will go down in infamy unless Trump is out and someone with morals and sense gets in.
6
If Netanyahu and his far right Orthodox wing form a Government, we will start to see an apartheid state emerge. Hopefully, Gantz and moderates form a government that supports a two state solution. I’m certain Trump could care less. He only cares about donations and support from the 15-20% of wealthy conservative Jews. This will ensure a permanent war in the Middle East. Great for the Military Industrial Complex.
5
Pompeo stated that it was up to Israeli courts to decide the issues in the West Bank, not international law. He is asserting that Israel has jurisdiction, legal control over the West Bank. Effectively, Israel in the view of the U.S., has annexed the territory in all but a formal declaration. Pompeo seems to think that if Israel just takes all of the territory and leaves no place for Palestine to exist the problems will evaporate, that the Palestinians will move on.
3
Everything Trump has done divides the Middle East even more, turning it into a powder keg. This will go badly for Israel.
And shame on American voters for thinking that a man who believes in a fantasy la la land called “the rapture” should represent them in the House or, worse, as the leader of our State Department.
And I was afraid of Mitt Romney being a Mormon!
7
Trump is pandering for political purposes. Wait for terrorism to renew.
He is a disgrace.
12
@Robert Kennedy:
Prima facie.
Indeed.
Please this can't come as a surprise . We have been allowing this
illegal behavior from Israel for decades. Standing along side them while the world disagrees and is incapable of changing our demands. Jared Kushner and Co. are preceding as expected.
It's time to elect a president who will stand up for justice . Huh,
just maybe a Jewish man named Bernie. This has to stop.
6
Getting desperate for some votes, eh Donny?
Why don't you just come up with that beautiful health plan you promised on the campaign trail? That would do it for you and would actually help people for a change. Just sayin'
14
america is now a rogue state...
12
Make Colonialism Great Again!
13
There are consequences to rejecting multiple ‘land for peace’ offers in favor of perpetrating over 70 years of terror wars in their ongoing effort to ‘drive the (indigenous) Jews into the sea’.
No sympathy.
8
One of the biggest donors to Trump and the Republicans is Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire pro-Israel gambling magnate. He must be happy over this decision.
12
I have never commented before on Middle East issues as they are incredibly divisive and open to charges of anti-semitism and racism. Whatever my views, it is an essential part of my self image that I am am inclusive, not racist, not Islamiphobic and not an anti- Semitic person. I believe in the legitimacy of all human beings.
However, not all people aspire to such aspirations. Trump and Netanyahu are not inclusive. They are racists and bigots. This declaration by the US is wrong. It is so wrong that I am prepared to expose myself to criticism by those who disagree in order to say so. There are many Israelis who also think this is wrong.
The Holocaust was an unspeakable horror. It was perpetrated by evil people for no defensible reason. However, it is a shame that a portion of the Israeli population learned not the lesson of love and inclusiveness as a vaccine against hate, but rather of winning at all costs. This has resulted in some aspects of the modern state of Israel - which drove Palestinians from their land and now illegally encroaches on the West Bank - occupied territory.
It is a shame that no one in the area wants what would be a great solution - a secular state embracing all religions from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.
28
I am a Jew. I have lived in Israel. This is a travesty of a position that can only in the long run hurt both the United States and Israel. But given the current administration and its deeply profound and deliberate ignorance about the world except as it applies to the president, his pocketbook, and his family, I cannot be surprised. Just one more in the seemingly infinite litanies of corruption and incompetence.
26
'The Trump administration’s peace effort is run by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, to deliver what the president has described as the “ultimate deal.”'
The whole time I'm reading this article, I'm smelling a rat. Kushner. Should've guessed.
13
Since the Trump administration has declared the settlements on occupied territory as legal, then what are the legal terms of a military occupation?
The United States was quite clear about that after WWII. Germany had followed its own laws and that included brutal treatment of persons in territory occupied by Germany. The same was true about the victims of the holocaust. How can you try someone for a crime when everything they did was sanctioned by their own legal system?
The answer was to be found in international law. And here The United States simply stands alone. If the settlements are legal, then everything Israel does in the West Bank and Gaza is implicitly if not explicitly legal.
That includes applying military not civilian law to Palestinian's. Refusing to recognize land titles dating back to the Ottoman empire. Withholding water and diverting it to settlements. Collective punishment in a variety of ways, including home demolitions. Preventive detention without charge of a crime. Use of brutal deadly force as was the case during the unarmed Gaza demonstrations that killed 259 and wounded 11,000.
The list is endless. But the point is simple. If international law does not apply to settlements then it doesn't apply to any aspect of the occupation.
In fact, the Trump administration has just transformed the occupation into something else. What we don't know.
But he cannot transform the Palestinian people as a people endowed with rights the same as everyone else.
5
@Drspock "If the settlements are legal, then everything Israel does in the West Bank and Gaza is implicitly if not explicitly legal."
That doesn't follow.
1
Are we really shocked? This is what his strong Evangelical base always wanted. But why? Why are pastors like Hagee and Jeffries who spoke at the inauguration of the American Embassy moving to Jerusalem so supportive of Israel? Is it to bring us closer to apocalyptic end times and the second coming of Jesus who will force the Jews in Israel to convert to Christianity? Isn't that why even Jews were offended that they spoke in Jerusalem?
I envision a better future, one where this one state of Israel (without Palestine) will become a multiethnic state where all faiths have equal rights, no one will be forced to convert to anything and serve as a model nation regardless of who is in the "majority". The opposite solution of apartheid is only an endgame for the state.
5
I really used to be much more optimistic about human beings and their empathy. The Trump administration has changed all that.
13
Another ill-considered move that is to little more than another attempt to distract attention from an imploding WH and a failed presidency. The US is not the arbiter here, nor has Israel ever needed its permission to illegally seize Palestinean territory.
6
As you wrote, no candidate in Israel has successfully formed a government such that two candidates are in limbo so it comes as no surprise to me that Pompeo has stated the Administration's position that is something of a bribe to Israelis to choose Netanyahu who has already more or less said that Israel should take the land for settlements. Everyone uses a "Nicer" word for it; "Annexation".
It's very clear to me that first, the Television industry is used to mold opinion. Second, Trump has. Third, now it appears the Administration is trying to empower Netanyahu over Gantz.
3
"They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind." Are all the peacemakers dead? This only moves Israel closer to a one state solution and apartheid. And when the captive Palestinians want equality under the law, true citizenship in Israel, will the international community turn their backs, or demand justice for them, launching boycotts and prohibitions?
There's no sense in this, until you see the politics of it. Yes, it will strengthen Netanyahu, it will solidify evangelical support for Trump (the end times can't come soon enough for those.)
They will say it's just recognizing the "facts on the ground." Funny, the facts on the ground seem to always be changing.
3
@Stephen Holland Palestinians attacked Israel. The Israeli army had to go into the West Bank to silence the guns. That's how the occupation began. Why should Palestinians be rewarded with Israeli citizenship for attacking Israel? Rewarding people for aggression will just encourage more aggression.
1
America's Homeland Security policy under Trump reverses centuries of encouaging immigration into the US and now builds walls to keep immigrants out and puts many who somehow come in into cages.
Trump has now reversed decades of American chosen, legal foreign policy in the Gaza Strip that has opposed occupation/immigration of Israeli citizens into a neighboring, ancient country. With a casual flick of the pen, Trump is now approving what has long been held by our country as illegal immigration of Israelis into another country.
So this self serving political choice, a clear grab for American Jewish votes, is the total opposite of Trump's merciless treatment of immigrants coming to America. My guess is he figures those offended by his domestic immigration policy don't have enough voting power to keep him from a 2020 victory. He needs a clear message in November that he is wrong.
2
Isn’t it nice having this administration speaking for us as Americans, folks?
How to lose friends and influence no one.
5
The government is collapsing again under another Republican administration. First was George Bush who used his own office of legal counsel to justify his morbid desires to torture captives and now Pompeo, likely on behalf of Trump, has relied on his in-house legal counsel to justify this act of outright criminal conduct approval.
6
After watching the commercial. I tried clicking the video and it played the same commercial. Very frustrating even for generation x people!
2
Unlike what Chnia is doing with Tibet, Israel isn't forcing it's population to live in the West Bank. Anyone who is living there is doing so by choice, not by force. Let's not forget that this land used to be Judea and Samaria and there even archaeological findings proving that. The only times Jews didn't live there was when it was under Jordanian rule from 1950 to 1967, which was highly opposed by the UN yet there was barely any outrage on that. Also, hardly anyone ever pressured Jordan to make it into a Palestinian state when they had it, which they could have done with the stroke of a pen, let alone expressed any concerns about them building any settlements there as they did on Israel. More importantly, the settlements were build on lands the Palestinians didn't even touch for decades, but they only complained they only complained about it when they were being placed there while being apathetic when that wasn't the case. In other words, you only want something when someone else has it, but you couldn't care less if they didn't. The other reason why the settlements are considered legal is because even to this day the West Bank is still considered disputed territory as long as no Palestinian state has been made official. Until then, the Jews are allowed to live. As for the claim that they are an obstacle for peace, that is just another excuse, because the Palestinians will always be looking for other claims to not have peace with them even if that wasn't the case.
9
The Palestinian people living on the West Bank are not there “by choice”. Neither were they “put there”. Many of them come from families that lived in what is now the state of Israel. Their families lived on that land longer than Christianity has been a religion.
These families were forced to move by Israel’s wars. Their lands and homes and olive groves were taken from them and the people were driven into exile. Not all used to live in what is now Israel. Some are from families that did live in Judea and Samaria. But they too were driven off their land by Israel’s “security”fence. They can even see their former homes but can no longer go to them because even if they were allowed through the wall, getting through the many checkpoints takes so much time there and back again, they could not get their work done in time to get back through security in time to get back home.
Israel is already developing into a apartheid state. There is a lovely highway that only Jews are allowed to use.
Let my people go indeed,l
2
@MJM
I suggest you try looking at the causes of the events rather than the effects. If the Palestinians hadn't been so bent on killing the Israelis, there would be no need for checkpoints and other barriers. Much of this is because of terrorism. Keep in mind that Israel only placed the security fence about a decade ago after declining on it originally for thinking it was overreacting. Unfortunately, seeing that the attacks became constant, the fence became necessary. BTW, there is no real boundary between Israel itself and the West Bank and the cease-fire line isn't an official one to begin with. As for your claim of taking them out of their homes, that was either found to be false or never proven. Many of the so-called settlements were built on lands that the Palestinians didn't even bother with for decades, but only expressed concerns after they were built. It's sort of like saying that when you see a bowl of a fruit and don't care about what's in it, but then you want the fruit after someone takes it especially the one that was just taken if you catch my drift. My point is why there was only a talk about making it into a Palestinian state only after Israel annexed it, but never before. One other thing, just because they were living there before the Six Day War didn't make it their land either as they never had any claims to it, plus it was considered Jordanian, not Palestinian before that as well.
1
The only good thing about all this reprehensible stuff Trump is doing is, because he is not doing it via laws and ratification through Congress, it can just as easily be undone by a Democratic president. In fact, I fully expect the next Democratic president to use Executive Orders and everything else Trump is doing to address gun control, climate change, healthcare reform, immigration reform, etc.
3
@KR
Oops. Many congresses have declared that Jerusalem in the capital of Israel and many US presidents have promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem and Trump is the one who complied with the wishes of multiple bipartisan Congresses.
The only way a future president can reverse that particular decision is if he can get Congress to recommend same.
The same is true of most of the regulatory rollbacks of Trump that were authorized by Congressional Review Act bills approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by Trump
Scotus is about to decide DACA cannot be maintained or reinstated at the whim of a future autocrat.
Democrats were delighted when the dictator in chief ruled with his pen and cellphone. Fortunately for America, Trump has followed the rule of law and future autocrats will gave to actually get Congress to pass laws.
Democrats are frequently distressed by democracy.
2
Not only does this undermine any prospects for peace, it also undermines whatever credbility the U.S. had as a fair broker in the region .
6
@Mark Kessinger
The international community has contended that the two state solution is the only possibility and that Israel had to give up land to satisfy the "Palestinians." The international community has never demanded that the Palestinians agree that Israel has a right to exist.
If the preferred international solution hasn't worked for the last seventy years, perhaps the time has come to start with a blank sheet of paper.
@Mark Kessinger
Prospects for peace? Were you under the impression that Arabs identifying as Palestinians were EVER interested in ‘peace’?
2
this is a very good and realistic move along with moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Now the Palestinians know the United States does not have a sympathetic ear toward their violence. and the Palestinians may decide to solely operate within legal and peaceful frameworks. Note there have not been any major and extended violent conflicts between Israel and its neighbors during Trumps three years as opposed to during Obama's and Clinton terms.
10
The second infatada was during the Bush years. Nice try.
Thanks God, without Trump we would never have known that the United States had been so wrong for decades. After all, fighting the Axis during ww2 was perhaps a mistake. Or perhaps it was fighting the Triple Alliance during ww1. And perhaps it all started when Washington (a great man, only second behind Trump) decided to fight the Red Coats. But we are safe: with Trump at the helm, what could go wrong?
2
During the entire episode of the Ukraine affair there seems to be a possible connection that no one has brought up. Netanyahu makes a two day trip to Ukraine (the first in twenty years) and meets withe new president. Did he have a talk with him about Biden on behalf of Trump? Now a couple of months go by and Trump pulls this one for Netanyahu as he needs all the help he can get.
4
Trump is doing this to distract from the impeachment. He has to do something to show he is still in control of chaos.
4
One more disastrous decision from
Trump Administration. Announcement
was made by Mr. Pompeo, last in his
class on ethics per Mr Friedman column,is no surprise. It justifies annexation of territory by aggression. Wait, some day Mr Trump will announce annexation of Crimea as legitimate according to his interpretation of international law. Washington Post tracks Mr. Trump's lies, who is tracking bad decisions?
2
@s.khan
Obama told Putin he would have more flexibility after his re-election. As soon as Obama was re-elected, Putin invaded Crimea. Obama refused to give military assistance to or sell weapons to Ukraine.
Hmm. Trump has provided weapons to Ukraine along with US funds after attempting to diplomatically shame the EU and NATO into supporting Ukraine despite their dependence on Russian energy.
Had Hillary been elected, Crimea would already have been subsumed into Russia and the rest of the Ukraine would be even more vulnerable. The anticorruption
focus allowed Hunter Biden and Pelosi's son to show the way. Give the princelings money.
1
@s.khan This doesn't justify annexation.
There were claims that all settlements were illegal.
That was wrong & has now been corrected. Settlements on land that was owned by Jews before 1948 are legal. That doesn't mean that all settlements are legal & Israel never claimed that they were. Settlements established on stolen land are not legal & Israel has been destroying them.
1
There are no peace negotiations anyway, so this means little in the scheme of things. Nobody over there will do anything different, or view America differently, than they did yesterday.
3
Hard-line right-wing Israelis have been working for decades to prevent any possibility of a Palestinian state, and to make annexation of the West Bank inevitable, building one illegal settlement after another, in clear violation of international law, while US administrations have tut-tutted and politely asked them to stop. This administration's action is no less shameful for being predictable.
@Thomas Every time Israel offers to end the occupation, the Palestinians say “No!”
Even Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia (certainly not a Zionist) said that Arafat’s refusal to accept the January 2001 offer was a crime. Thousands of people would die because of Arafat’s decision & not one of those deaths could be justified.
As Clinton later wrote in his memoir:
It was historic: an Israeli government had said that to get peace, there would be a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank, counting the [land] swap, and all of Gaza, where Israel also had settlements. The ball was in Arafat’s court.
But Arafat would not, or could not, bring an end to the conflict. “I still didn’t believe Arafat would make such a colossal mistake,” Clinton wrote. “The deal was so good I couldn’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to let it go.” But the moment slipped away. “Arafat never said no; he just couldn’t bring himself to say yes.”
1
I am a 'never-trumper' but when it comes to Israel I agree with the policy changes: moving our embassy to Jerusalem and conceding the West Bank issue.
Obama visited Israel in his last year in office. Before he went the White House said he was going to visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, as if the West Bank is not in Israel. Since 1967 it has been.
We were warned that the embassy move was sure to start a new was; it didn't, We will be told this change will start a new war and it will not.
Even a deeply resentful victim of Trump's America there still are a few things that have been done right.
4
All of these Trump Administration policies lack any legitimacy. Hopefully, the next President from the Democratic Party, starting in January of 2021, will simply nullify all of the policies from the Trump Administration, including accepting the Annexation of Jerusalem, along with this policy allowing areas of Israeli settlement on the West Bank to be incorporated into Israeli territory.
It will be painful, but it is possible to undo the so-called "Facts on the Ground".
The necessary next step would be to impose a change in leadership for the Israeli government.
3
@Outerboro
In order for Democrats to win the presidency, they will have to come up with a tolerable candidate. Hillary tried the "I'm not as bad as Trump" strategy and it didn't work. The current clown car of candidates have lots of programs and philosophies that not even a Democrat controlled Congress would support because the American people don't support the programs.
@Outerboro No areas of Israeli settlement on the West Bank have been incorporated into Israeli territory.
1
This is not just Pres. Trump. That it comes from the first U.S. administration to give comfort to neo-nazis is hardly ironic.
5
God bless you president Trump! thank you for everything you do for the state of Israel!
8
"Monday’s decision reversed a 1978 legal opinion by the State Department concluding that the settlements were inconsistent with international law. "
Hmm. Has international law changed?
No.
Are the settlements now different and more compliant with international law?
No.
So... Mr. Pompeo cannot mask this as a legal decision, only a political one.
10
@J Schlosser At one time, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal - separate but equal. Years later, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal. Same constitution, different interpretation.
2
Seriously, did you expect anything else? This has been coming since day ONE.
4
This is absurd & exactly why the US has freedom of religion at least so far .This will endanger Israel going forward & you will see an international reaction which does not bode well for Israel & its markets .You will also see a tremendous resurgence of the BDS movement as a result of this complete nonsense !
5
Just take anything illegal and declare it legal! Problem solved!
11
Elections have their consequences. Unfortunately, Trump's base has neither the sophistication nor the foresight on so many complex issues such as a two state solution and global warming In fact, they're blissful.
7
Conservatives in Israel and the US, who support this policy, have no interest in peace.
20
@Michelle:
Yup.
Yet another international disaster fostered by this absurdist and surreal Replican Administration.
The way things are going, it might be a good idea to revisit the idea of underground fallout shelters . . .
2
@Michelle Palestinians leaders have become very wealthy. Arafat had a net worth of $1 billion, Abbas $100 million, Abu Marzouk $2-3 billion, Khaled Mashaal, $2.6 billion. It literally pays not to make peace.
1
Might makes right.
6
The article doesn't mention that Palestinian leadership has always turned down the chance to have their own state because they didn't want to be seen as giving up the dream of driving the Israeli's into the sea. When Palestinians were given Gaza, instead of creating a prosperous peaceful country they immediately started firing rockets and building tunnels for terrorists. I am against the settlement policy and I am for a two state solution, but let's not be so quick to throw around the term "apartheid" without acknowledging that the Palestinians are responsible in great part for their current situation.
13
@Horace:
Well said.
The real tragedy is that BOTH sides are equally culpable (despite their protestations to the contrary); for a very long time now it's come down the reality of intractable Ego in the leaders of both sides, at the enduring and acute costs to the well-being of the citizenry of all.
Ultimately, it's quite pathetic, and prima facie evidence that mankind's self-proclaimed apex of intellectual prowess is a great cosmic joke.
And uh, is anyone really stunned by Trump's degree of ethics in real estate?
5
I think the west bank should be returned to the Ottoman empire.
It makes about as much as any other foreign 'policy' decision made by trump.
4
The West Bank, Palestine, Israel's settlements are all yesterday's news. Nobody cares, lest of all neighboring Arab countries. Remember all the handwringing regarding the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. End result was a big yawn. Trump's move may, if anything, help a possible peace process; eliminates pressure to expel the settlers back to Israel.
6
Headline should read, „Trump and Pompeo Say Settlements do not Break International Law“
Whilst the Trumpster can make policy now, or at least pretend to do so, he will be out of office soon enough.
2
Israel was created to take care of "the problem" England and later United States had with what to do with the Jewish population within their own borders. The Arab population's rights were never really considered.
The European and the American world view, then and now, disregard the rights of any group that was/is not white and does not practice a similar government or religion like theirs.
Imagine: Would this same scenario occur within our own borders? Of course it does. Just look at how we handled the Keystone Pipeline concerns of the Native-Americans.
1
@Teacher
The Arab population rights were never considered? Jordan occupies approximately 80% of historic Palestine and is 100% Judenfrei.
7
Contemptible. Disrespectful. Inhumane. The US is simply asking outright for everything that happens as a consequence. And Syria has been such a success. We should be grateful, I suppose, for the small consolation that at present, we're not involved in the sort of larger, colder wars we once were.
1
Just another blunder in foreign affairs. When you have a government run by Trump you get crazy policy.
5
In other news, Vladimir Putin declared that the land occupied by the lower 48 of the United States actually belongs to the innumerable Indian tribes who occupied the land before it was colonized and annexed by European immigrants.
7
Who did Trump consult before announcing this? Seat of the pants foreign policy is becoming ever more dangerous, whose consequences we cannot predict. Trump and Kushner never believed in trying to forge peace, only to use it as a cover to both distract from troubles at home (e.g., Impeachment hearings), and to please the evangelical base. In his lonely world, if he is going down, he's taking others with him.
2
We know Trump "agrees" with the annexation, as do the domestic sects that support him. The Trump Administration also "declares" that it "gets along just great" with the murder-prince of Arabia; the KGB goon in the Kremlin; and the bloody-handed ruler of Turkey.
3
And why and how does pompeo state, ". . . no bearing on legal conclusions regarding similar situations elsewhere in the world." This is a statement without reasoning or understanding of underlying distinctions.
In the world of trump's arbitrariness-with-personal-purpose, what warning does it give to Ukraine's leaders as they seek bearing and power to negotiate with Russia over the Crimean take-over? How might this alter what they say or provide re the infamous call and withholding of military aid?
What message does it give to Russia, or to China regarding its South China Sea island and claim to territory?
5
There is a very important consideration that is generally ignored when discussing the legality of the settlements.
Israel and the Palestinians agreed in the 1995 Interim Agreement, signed and witnessed by the U.S., the EU, Egypt, Jordan, Russia, and Norway, on a division of their respective jurisdictions in the West Bank into areas A and B (Palestinian jurisdiction) and area C (Israeli jurisdiction). They defined the respective powers and responsibilities of each side in the areas they control. The issue of the settlements was discussed at great length in the negotiations leading to the agreement. It was decided that pending the outcome of Permanent Status negotiations, Israel’s powers and responsibilities in Area C include all aspects regarding its settlements. This division was accepted and agreed upon by the Palestinians. And having accepted and agreed to this division, I don’t see that the Palestinians or the other signatories to that agreement have standing to complain that the agreement violates collective Palestinian rights under the Geneva Convention or any other international instrument. One would think that this agreement is indeed binding under the legal principle Pact sunt servanda (Agreements must be kept).
This does not settle the question of the final disposition of the territory--that is a matter of negotiation; but it seems to me that it shows that the settlements are not illegal.
5
@Dedalus That might apply to settlements that were in existence in 1995. Not that they were accepted as legal, but that they were accepted as to be negotiated. But it certainly wouldn't apply to any settlements since then, why would it?
2
Trump is a politician, pure and simple, but has no clue as to governing. This move is self-serving and also serves the political aspirations of his buddy Netanyahu. But it has little to do with resolving the claims of Palestinians to their homeland, a claim every bit as legitimate as those that created the state of Israel.
3
@Ken L Politician? No he's a real-estate guy and he sees real-estate.
In 1922, the world community decided that 1% of the lands of the defeated Ottoman Empire should revert to its indigenous inhabitants while the Arabs would rule over the rest. The following year, the UK as Mandatory power effectively partitioned that 1% by giving three-quarters of it to exclusive Arab rule. In that remaining 0.25%, the Jewish people were alone given national (as opposed to civil and religious) rights. Those rights were confirmed by Article 80 of the UN Charter.
So, nothing in international law makes Israeli settlements on former Mandate land illegal. What was illegal was Jordan’s 19 year belligerent occupation that Israel ended in 1967 after Jordan foolishly attacked it. Nor did the local Arab population ever have a sovereign claim under the Mandate. Not one commenter opposed to this conclusion has advanced any legal argument showing it to be wrong. Nor has any country ever issued a legal brief that addresses the rights conferred by the Mandate for PalestIne, Article 80 or the established international law doctrine of "uti possidetis juris". You can debate whether these events were wise or not, but their legal consequences stand.
That said, none of this really matters. The Arabs have repeatedly made it clear that the issue was never over Israel’s borders but always over Israel's existence - otherwise wouldn’t 99.75% of the land be enough?
16
The Saudis have given Trump the green light to give the territories the UN considers occupied by Israel. It shows the powerful friendship between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
However the Saudis gained only the right to destroy Yemen in return. They would have liked the US to nuke Iran in exchange for the gift of the lands.
IMHO the Saudis gave the occupied lands away too cheaply.
A special deal for a close friend.
1
Even as a staunch supporter of Israel, this doesn’t make a lot of sense. Pushing further into the West Bank just erodes Israeli security and makes peace, even of the uneasy cease fire kind, ever less likely.
The two state solution is the only workable solution, but that requires that there actually be land for two states.
4
@Jon P Unfortunately, the real possibility of a two state solution has faded away to the vanishing point, as shown by Israel's enthusiastic support of ever more settlements. Last I heard, Netanyahu, representing a lot of Israelis, has promised that there will be no two state solution. It seems that the only alternatives left are an indefinite prolongation of the current arrangement. Several comments here have made the point that there is really no legal status at all in the territory, so Israel has a perfect right to establish settlements, which are then part of Israel, and the rest is just... nowhere. Ruled provisionally by the authority that Israel grants to a sort of government, but with no national status. This has been working for Israel for a long time now, and it may be the extent of their vision for the future. The other alternative would be for Israel to simply annex the whole territory, and then figure out how to deal with the legal status of their new compatriots. This might be the most promising way forward, although there would be a traumatic period of trying to stay Jewish, with a majority of non Jewish citizens. One possibility would be to have a Jewish province within a larger secular state. No easy answers.
Because of climate change will any of these lands even be inhabitable?
2
Another page out of the Putin playbook.
2
Of course the confiscation of the West Bank by Israel is a violation of international law. But Mike Pompeo is a lap dog of Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, and he is also a rabid Evangelical and so see this as a religious battle that he is fighting for Christianity. The Trump presidency is a total embarrassment.
13
Nothing against Israel or Palestine, but here in America we’re dealing with “Fake News”, an impulsive “Tweeter In Chief” and a little thing called an Impeachment Inquiry.
Maybe someone should tell Pompeo.
2
This is why we need BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) on the Israeli polity: This regime is trying to delegitimize Palestinian claims to statehood, not even considering them worthy of having the fake-country Bantustans that apartheid era South Africa tried to do in the 1980s.
I will not be buying any products from Israel.
11
@Mumon
“...delegitimize Palestinian claims to statehood? That’s a laugh. The Arabs (identifying as Palestinian since 1965), have rejected every offer of ‘Palestinian statehood’ for the past 70+ years...in favor of waging war and terrorism.
BDS is simply more of the same.
6
My God. Clearly, the Russians have something on Trump. And the Turks have something on Trump. And the Saudis have something on Trump. And now the Israelis have something on Trump. Who is next? Fiji? Andorra?
13
@David Bullock But seriously, the idea that others must "have something on him"... as if, otherwise, he would be doing the right thing... and for that matter, that it's all about him personally... In this case, it's probably the long time right-wing Evangelical support of a theocratic Israel, as part of their apocalyptic vision. And a general liking for authoritarians, a disliking for international law... this is all just modern Republicanism expressing itself, no need to look for coercion from outside.
One step closer to Armageddon. The evangelical christians will be rapturous.
23
@C. G. Walker Yes, they'll be carried away... unfortunately, not literally...
It’s official: the two state solution is dead. The only way forward is for Palestinians to be given equal rights of citizenship with Jews in the future binational state of Israel-Palestine.
15
@Sarah
Sorry, no. What the Arabs shall have is what they do have: Jordan, the de facto Arab Palestinian state, situated upon 80% of historic Palestine...
...And ‘limited autonomy’ west of the Jordan River.
7
Trump is a nightmare. How would he like it if we just gave his land way to appease Israel? Vote him out in November. He is bad for the US and bad for the world.
11
There will never be peace between the Palestinians and Israel and nothing the US or Israel can do will cause the Palestinians to hate them less. If Israel vacated the West Bank tomorrow, the Palestinians and their Iranian sponsors/friends would not stop seeking the utter destruction of Israel and the Jews. So Israel and Trump are right to allow Israelis to occupy and—as they have done wherever they have spread in Israel, make a garden out of the desert—literally and metaphorically.
6
Quick! Look what I started over there, not at the impeachment first hand witness testimonies here at home! Old dog, No new tricks from the Don.
5
Just for grins, is there any international judicial authority that concurs in this ridiculous opinion? I didn't think so.
6
President Trump has caved to the Israeli lobby, in order to save his political skin. First he reversed the decision to gut Israel's northern defenses; now this. Let's see how quickly the lobby backs off the impeachment war drums. Doesn't matter, Trump will still be re-elected, since he is the only candidate who cares about jobs and factories. The American people love him, because he is listening to them.
2
That's it for any chance of an Arab-Israeli peace. And let's be clear why this is happening: so that Trump can solidify his hold on the votes of white "Evangelical" Christians whose staunch support of the most belligerent elements of the Israeli Right stems from a cockamamie prophesy about the Last Days and the Apocalypse. Needless to say, Fifth Avenue Don doesn't believe any of this, knows nothing about the Book of Revelations and probably thinks Acts of the Apostles is a TV show. So vital US interests in the Middle East are being cast aside for the sake of a few more votes in North Carolina.
10
Incredible, this administration has passed any possible limit of infamy and hypocrisy.
4
If you reflect on the history of Israel from 1948 onwards it closely resembles the history of most colonial actions. Europeans came to the Americas, claimed them for some far away ultimate power, and subjugated the inhabitants. Eventually the locals were 'ghettoized' or placed in reservations. If you look at a map of the West Bank the Palestinians areas are isolated and surrounded by the Israeli claims. The Palestinians have been segmented, ghettoized, and await dissolving into other lands and Gaza, the ultimate Ghetto. Somehow one would expect a different face of humanity from the Jewish people.
8
Except the West Bank borders Jordan and Gaza borders Egypt. Try again.
5
@Issac Basonkavich
The ‘locals’, as you call them, are the descendants of Arab invaders, occupiers, and economic migrants to a land not their own. Palestine...derelict province claimed by the Ottoman Empire for 500 years....is NOT Arab Land, and ever was.
6
@Susanna Who resided in that land before the Israelites escaped Egypt? There have always been people living there before Abraham was ever born (which wasn't in "Israel" but more likely Ur, Iraq). Just because they're labeled as Arab or Muslim (many are Christian) doesn't make the occupation any more legitimate.
2
I infer from this announcement that Russia's occupation of Crimea is also legal. Nice going, Donald, that's the way to maintain American exceptionalism, giving in to would be autocrats.
14
@Frank Casa: You're right. He said something about how this only applies to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, not to any other similar situation. But Crimea, and maybe other areas coveted by Russia, might turn out to be the next place to apply the principle.
Since 1967 the official US position was more or less the same. How long do we need to persist until people realize it does not bring peace. 2019 - 1967 = 52. Pretty long time. Many thing changed in the world during this time. The Palestinian problem immutably persist . There is no peace in the Middle East. Few years ago the mantra was that "Only we solve the Palestinian problem by making Israel return to the old borders, Nirvana will come soon afterwards." Did not hear this for a while. But who knows, some may believe it still.
9
This is just another part of Trump's effort to sow chaos in order to undermine his impeachment. Don't take your eyes off the prize, people: Trump's removal by the voting public in 2020.
And don't worry. This kowtowing to Netanyahu will be reversed by the next administration.
13
What's next ? An official announcement declaring that there is no such thing as a Palestinian. They've been doing it on conservative radio stations for years. In fact a woman with a sign in DC in front of Union station when I responded to her sign by saying I am one (Palestinian) she told me I was misinformed.
23
Indeed, Palestinians are in fact called Jordanians.
4
@Rose Marcelli
And Syrians....and Egyptians...and Iraqis...and Saudi Arabians.
1
This is not good, but the reality that it confirms is that pro-Israel donors and groups have power and influence in U.S. politics, while, outside of some college campuses and the most progressive fringe of the Democratic party, the donors and groups sympathetic to the Palestinians do not. From Trump's point of view, this is a brilliant short-term domestic political move, solidifying support from evangelicals, Orthodox Jews, Jewish Zionists; and people hostile to Arabs. It will also exacerbate a split in the Democratic party on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as candidates and others are forced on take clear cut positions on the settlements and run the risk of alienating either progressive parts of the base or pro-Israel donors.
11
There's that most excellent Jared peace settlement work!
9
I do not like the policies of President Trump in the Israeli Palestine conflict. The USA ceased being an honest broker between the two decades ago and this continues that unfortunate trend. The people of Palestine continue to suffer poverty and isolation and the people of Israel continue to suffer being a pariah in the world.
But, of course, a realistic view is that there has been no peace progress in that conflict since President Carter. Yes, President Clinton did achieve a peace between Israel and Jordan, but that did not benefit Palestine.
So this recent change won't dampen a nonexistent peace process, will it?
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
5
Everything Trump does is predicated on whether it will win him votes or lose them. If the polls show that he's made a mistake he will just reverse what he did and do the opposite. He is not running the country, he is running for reelection.
15
How does Israel see this ending? How is any of this making Israelis safer? How will it lead to peace?
Continuing war to legitimize a land grab is easy, but it won’t end - anything. It certainly won’t lead to peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
16
It may sound obvious but you cannot take someone's land, livelihood and self-respect and expect there to be no repercussions. This will only make matters worse.
31
@Sam
Just open a history book. California, will never become part of Mexico again as it looks now. True this happened long time ago, but not that long if one comes to think about it. Every case is different though.
1
This administration has no say what-so-ever in international law. It is not up to Trump or Pompeo to make such claims.
10
Yes. Considering the Supreme Court tends to disregard international law and we don't participate in the ICC.
3
This decision is motivated at least in substantial part by Trump eying real estate opportunity on the West Bank. How do I know?
When Kushner went to Israel officially to address Palestinian/Israeli conflict, his seriousness was criticized by some Israeli media pointing out that he was flanked by real estate lawyers rather than by political advisers.
Taking real estate lawyers to address the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict does not make sense, but it could not have been a coincident. Today’s decision might provide an explanation why Kushner did it then - … you might want to join the dots, particularly if you are an investigative reporter.
10
Trump is of course excessively pro-Israel and that is an obvious reason. However, there may be a logic which is not entirely inhuman.
When a stalemate has lasted a very long time and there has been no resolution and there has been continued violence, then an unfair solution may end the stalemate.
I suspect that this was Modi's reasoning behind removing the autonomous nature of Kashmir. It is a way of saying, "It is over, guys!" The old status of Kashmir had lasted 70 years, there was no resolution and two nuclear armed states almost went to war a year ago. An unfair solution is better than war.
I suspect that within less than a month, the Chinese government will also lose patience with the demonstrators in Hong Kong.
I won't deny that I am being something of a Devil's advocate here but it is distressing to see that the presumably educated readers of the New York Times can see every single issue only in a one sided way.
9
@Ludwig
'better than war'...that is an absolutely absurd way to view such myopic actions...life has come to a standstill in occupied kashmir. schools are still closed months later, and few people dare to venture out from home.
@Ludwig
Trumps not pro anything other than trump.
He could care less about Israel, Palestine, , Syria , Afghanistan ,
He does not care about anything, he is a nihilist.
He only cares about destruction.
@Ludwig There is some truth when you point out that the situation has lasted a long time: it's no use calling the settlements illegal, and doing nothing about them.
On the other hand, calling the settlements illegal hasn't really been the main problem, and for us to call them legal won't really change much. This isn't a solution, fair or unfair, although it points to one of the alternatives left after the remote two-state solution is finally abandoned.
Probably what we will see is an indefinite extension of the current situation, where settlements proliferate, as outposts of aggressively Jewish Israel, and the occupied territory is left in a stateless limbo, its residents under Israeli control, but without legal status.
The alternative would be for Israel to annex the territory, but then they would gain a large new class of citizens that they don't want. They'd rather have the settlers as Israelis, and the Palestinians as permanently stateless.
1
Honestly with 45 as president, no one will respect what the US says, which could be a silver lining with new leadership in 2021.
True. And very sad.
5
Here is the rub for all the anti-Israel crowd who condemn this change of US policy. Pompeo's argument is correct that peace will never come as result of any judicial ruling, that the only possible path to peace is political agreement. That being the case, insistence upon branding Israel as acting illegally is actually an impediment to reaching a political agreement. You don't get very far in a negotiation with people by starting off condemning them as acting illegally.
Of course, you do insist upon publicly branding Israel as acting illegally when your real intent is to force Israel to be dissolved piecemeal through periodically repeating concessions of its territory and its security.
19
You hit the nail on the head!
7
It's not their territory!
@Errol You have a foolproof argument there! But it is also true that Israel will have no reason to negotiate if what they are doing is legal anyway. Pompeo is doing the right thing - letting the Israeli right-wingers believe they can get away with it all. Looking forward to the day Israel has to absorb the land and the Palestinians into the society - as long as that outcome suits you, enjoy the ride!
Trump keeps granting concessions to Israel without asking anything in return. If Jerusalem is now ecognized as the capital and the West Bank settlements are legally part of Israel, there is not much left to negotiate. Trump has treated the Palestinians the same way he treated the Kurds.
11
@Edward B
Even if you were correct about the treatment of the Palestinians and Kurds being the same, you are making a false equivalence. The Kurds were military allies of the US who fought alongside the US and in place of the US, thus greatly assisting US military efforts and saving many American soldiers' lives. When have the Palestinians ever been allies of the US or ever fought alongside the US?
You are incorrect about Trump's treatment of the Palestinians being the same as of the Kurds. Trump has not authorized anyone to make an imminent military attack on the Palestinians.
9
@Errol
'Trump has not authorized anyone to make an imminent military attack on the Palestinians.'
Yet.
45's son-in-law can now end work on his" Middle East Peace plan, as if one ever existed.
And while I agree that Pompeo's statement is laughable; it only guarantees that the song will remain the same, i.e. more destabilization, death, and destruction.
4
Head-shaking winning. What more ills can this administration produce?
2
This is FANTASTIC NEWS. Never been more proud of our President.
Thank You
13
When did this administration decide that it was above international law? Does this administration not understand or care that many of these illegal settlements are built on stolen Palestinian lands and that they violate the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949?
Does this shift have anything to do with the fact that Mr. Trump's major financial supporter is the billionaire casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson whose major interest is Israel.
Several years ago while in Israel, Mr. Adelson spoke to a group of Israelis telling them that it was unfortunate that the uniform he wore while in the military was an American uniform and not the uniform of the Israeli army.
It appears that this administration's policies toward Israel are directed by Sheldon Adelson.
6
I hope that the world will act to prevent Israel from destroying the Palestinian people. If Israel were willing to annex the entire territory and make citizens of all of its residents, that might be justifiable. Instead, it wants to slowly squeeze them out of existence by taking the land a few pieces at at time, and the US is now willing to excuse this as "the reality on the ground." How long will the world put up with the US and Israel? Have they forgotten what happened when they failed to stand up to a bully in the 1930s?
5
Jordan is the Palestinian homeland
14
@The Truth Jordan is not the Palestinian homeland. Palestinians have been on the land long before there was a country called Jordan. For thousands of years the number of Jews on the land was minuscule.
The truth is that Israel would like to get rid of all of the Palestinians in the West Bank. They are making life miserable for them in hopes that they will leave. They will not leave. This is their homeland.
1
@The Truth: That's not "true" in the sense of being true, but it might be interesting if Jordan offered to take responsibility for the territory and people. They are right there. But I don't think Jordan wants to get involved, and of course it would be unacceptable to Israel. (Always worth noting: what a mess the British left, with their crazy borders, and authoritarian rulers!)
Well unlike Ilana Goldenberg, I’m not exactly sure what does advance peace. The notion that by keeping Israel on a leash the Palestinians will come around is delusional. As they huff about Trump’s policies, for years Abbas (let alone Hamas and Islamic Jihad) have continuously tried to delegitimize Israel’s existence. What might backfire is that Netenyahu and the Israeli right mistake Trump’s support for America’s. And Trump may be gone in a year. If the Palestinians accepted Jews to live among them decades ago—like Israel does its Arab citizens—the road to peace would be more apparent, decades ago. As we all react to “settlements,” the underlying barrier to peace runs deeper.
8
@Alberto Abrizzi: If Jews had been interested in living among Palestinians, as citizens of a Palestinian state... sort of in the spirit of some of the very first Jewish settlers to come to the area... but I don't think that's been possible for decades now. Too bad. I haven't heard of anybody even working in that direction.
“We’ve recognized the reality on the ground.”
This paves the way for recognizing the reality on the ground in Crimea and Donbass as well, i.e., a gift for Mr. Putin.
1
@F. Hansen The "reality" also includes about 3 million Palestinians "on the ground". As long as Israel recognizes them as legitimate as the settlements, I am good!
"Israel’s West Bank Settlements Do Not Violate International Law, U.S. Says"
I have no opinion about what may or may not violate international law. But what is the point of the U.S. saying anything, when it has so little credibility?
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Very happy to the real face of American Diplomacy. The US has been sabotaging the peace process for decades now in the name of neutral mediation. The Quartet (US, UK, UN, Russia) stopped working a long time ago because of exactly that.
Go ahead, please gobble up the West Bank. And Gaza too! There is no need to put up this facade any longer. Assimilate the people into yours along with the land that is so precious. Israel will meet its fate then ... sooner or later!
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A quick search of the Kushner family business and The Kushner Foundation explains what this is about.
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I thought he was ending the endless wars? This seems to be igniting another one. I guess this is Jared’s secret plan?
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If you want to talk about stolen land, first look at the US and all the Americas, where truly indigenous peoples (not the Arab invaders from Arabia, who came to the land 1,000 years after Jews were there) were slaughtered and all their lands were taken and the survivors in the US put in reservations. Jews, as stated were there before the Arabs and any lands taken were in defensive wars. What would the critics say if American Indians fired rockets from their reservations into their homes or left the reservation to kill their families? People is glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
If the Palestinians recognized Israel’s right to exist and lived in peace, they would have a state and a future. Instead they have chosen war. Letting the Palestinians keep land and make war only perpetuates the conflict. We won WW II by destroying the enemy, not by appeasement. Appeasement only brings more war.
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Let’s not pretend that Jordan....the de facto Arab Palestinian state...doesn’t occupy approximately 80% of the territory that was historic ‘Palestine’ (a former derelict province of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years and NOT Arab Land).
Apart from Jordan, the Arabs might have acquired yet another Arab Palestinian state...but rejected all offers in favor of perpetrating over 70 years of terror wars....still ongoing.
As such, did they imagine that they’d get to dictate the terms of the peace...a peace that they’ve refused to negotiate in any case? No...they got exactly what they signed up for...limited autonomy. Tough.
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Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, North Korea. And of course Russia.
Please, can anyone explain to me if there is a vision behind the foreign policy of the United States? If so, which one?
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@Alfredo It's no longer the US foreign policy, it's Trump's 'foreign policy' : real-estate, tacky, garish hotels and gated communities.
Just dropping the mask. It has been apparent for quite some time that no one with any power gives a flying fig about what the Israelis do to the Palestinians, up to and including making them have special id's, denying them clean drinking water or worse.
The only thing that counts is power.
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