Trump Endorses Controversial, Unprecedented Policy on Settlements Held by Previous Administrations freebeacon.com/national-secur…
Liberal critics are condemning the announcement as unprecedented—but in fact the U.S. position that settlements are illegal under international law only dates to the final days of the Obama administration.
The Trump administration is bringing U.S. policy in line with the positions held by successive Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to 1967, when Israel acquired the West Bank in the Six Day War.
It was only in late December 2016, after President Trump won the presidential election and weeks before Inauguration Day that the Obama administration supported a U.N. Security Council resolution declaring settlements a violation of international law.
The move was widely condemned by pro-Israel groups and even many Democrats as a spiteful, abrupt, and illegitimate policy shift by an administration days before its departure from the White House.
In fact, during the Obama administration in 2011, U.N. ambassador Susan Rice vetoed a similar resolution declaring settlements illegal, consistent with longstanding U.S. policy to both reject their illegality and to block anti-Israel activism in the Security Council.
Before that, in 2004, the United States exchanged letters with the Israeli government explicitly endorsing Israel's retention of major West Bank settlement blocs in any peace deal with the Palestinians.
Successive administrations, including those of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, refused to call settlements "illegal."
So the Trump administration's announcement broke no new ground, and in fact restored U.S. policy to a bipartisan status quo ante.
So the Trump administration's announcement broke no new ground, and in fact restored U.S. policy to a bipartisan status quo ante.
Despite the howls of protest by progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who accused Trump of "isolating the United States and undermining diplomacy by pandering to his extremist base," ....
....the announcement will actually promote diplomacy, such as it is possible with a Palestinian Authority that is currently boycotting the administration.
U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman tweeted that the announcement "will advance the cause of peace by creating an appropriate level playing field for future talks."
By adopting the Palestinian position as its own, the Obama administration preemptively designated all of the West Bank—including half of Jerusalem, the Western Wall, and settlement blocs that will never be part of a Palestinian state—
....as Palestinian territory illegally controlled by Israel and therefore beyond compromise. The endorsement also promoted one of the worst tendencies in Palestinian politics—the fantasy of an eventual total victory over Israel, without the need for negotiation or compromise.
Like so many other moves, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Pompeo's announcement was far less an innovation than a recognition of obvious reality.
