Israeli Settlements: Trump Turns a Corner, Netanyahu Cheers

Monday night’s speech from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is a new step in the United States’ pro-Israeli approach, and a new diplomatic success for the Israeli prime minister facing political upheaval.

It was a new fistful of dirt on the two-state solution, along with a final helping hand from Benjamin Netanyahu. On Nov. 18, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would no longer consider Israeli settlements illegal under international law. Although the announcement fits with the ultra partisan policy adopted by Donald Trump over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, (moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Golan, expelling Palestinian diplomats from Washington, etc.), it breaks with four decades of American diplomacy and international consensus.

Marathon

Once again, the timing of this decision seems suspiciously tied to the Israeli prime minister’s political interests. Netanyahu, who was “very moved,” celebrated the announcement the following day and visited the Gush Etzion settlement, calling the move “a very big day for the State of Israel and an achievement that will stand for generations.”

The announcement appeared as his rival, the centrist ex-general Benny Gantz, reached the end of a negotiation marathon. Gantz had until midnight on Wednesday to present the Israeli president with a coalition government that would defeat Netanyahu following two inconclusive elections. “While the United States recognizes the legality of the settlements in Judea and Samaria,* Benny Gantz wants to form a government with the support of terrorists who do not recognize our rights on this land,” Netanyahu hastened to emphasize in a short video address, pursuing his defamatory campaign directed at the Arab parties who are negotiating with Gantz.

However, Netanyahu’s rival has not condemned Pompeo’s announcement, confirming his right-wing position in the matter of Israeli occupation. The ex-general has also applauded the announcement from the United States. He believes that “the fate of the communities and residents of Judea and Samaria should be determined by arrangements that meet security requirements and can promote peace.” There are more than 420,000 settlers living in the West Bank today.

Pompeo justified his decision by citing the dead-end status of the peace process, reckoning that resolutions based on “who is right and wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.” The secretary of state added that “the hard truth is there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict … This is a complex political problem that can only be solved by negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Law of the Jungle

In concrete terms, this announcement has no bearing on the status of the Israeli settlements; Israel being a state that has never adhered to international law on this issue since the ’70s, no matter what government was in charge. But even if Pompeo insists that this new approach does not mean “prejudging the ultimate status of the West Bank,” it has all the signs of a carte blanche issued to the Israeli right wing and its annexationist ambitions, which were already validated in June by David M. Friedman, the U.S. ambassador in Jerusalem, who believes that the Hebrew state “has the right” to retain all or part of the West Bank. During the last two election campaigns led by Netanyahu, the prime minister, standing at the podium, promised several times to gradually implement sovereignty in the Israeli settlements, which would come down to the annexation by law of 60% of Palestinian territory, making the creation of a Palestinian state impossible.

For the Palestinians, the recurring assaults from the Trump administration have not dulled the strength of their response. “It’s difficult to be horrified and shocked when we’re facing a repetitive pattern, but it doesn’t make [the decision] any less horrible,” announced Hanan Ashrawi, one of the highest-ranking leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. “The United States has no right to rewrite international law and distort the existing international system based on its distorted ideological tendencies,” she added in a report, asserting that the Israeli settlements may constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute.** Palestine’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, accused Trump of looking to replace international law with the “law of the jungle.”

Evangelists

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini condemned this change in American policy, once more expressing the position of the United Nations and Europe on settlements that they are “illegal under international law, [constituting] an obstacle to peace and [threatening] to make a two-state solution impossible.” Several critics have drawn a comparison between the European Ministry of Justice’s validation of special labeling of products from Israeli settlements last week and this new announcement from the Trump administration. Israeli journalist Barak Ravid also revealed that wine growers from the settlements who had attacked Europe over the question of labeling had also received advice from several American attorneys to put pressure on the Trump administration in the event of an unfavorable outcome to their legal initiative. The special labeling is being ardently opposed, notably by American evangelists, important supporters of Trump and fervent patrons of Israeli settlement.

*Translator’s note: Samaria is the name designated by the Israeli West Bank administration.

**Editor’s note: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in 1998, established the International Criminal Court and set forth four international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.