Times of Israel: A senior Israeli official says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working on the dramatic change in US policy regarding the settlements “for a number of months.”
Ambassador David Freidman: After commissioning a lengthy and comprehensive review of the issues, Secretary Pompeo has concluded that Israeli civilian settlements in Judea and Samaria are not categorically illegal.
Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties in the Knesset, writes on Twitter that the US change in policy toward West Bank settlements will not “change the fact that the settlements were built on occupied land upon which an independent Palestinian state will be founded alongside Israel.”
The European Union’s position on Israeli settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territory is clear and remains unchanged: all settlement activity is illegal under international law and it erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace,” an EU spokesperson says in a statement.
Saeb Erakat Palestinian Authority senior negotiator for the PA slams the US policy change on West Bank settlements, saying it undermines international law.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan Settlements in occupied #Palestine are a blatant violation of Int’l law & UNSCRs. They are an illegal action that’ll kill 2-state solution. more …
Opinion: How many times is it now that President Trump has blessed (Gen. 12:3) Israel?
- US Embassy moved to Jerusalem – check
- Golan Heights declared Israeli land – check
- Israeli settlements are legitimate – checkmate
Just in case anyone forgot what the last US president thought about it:
If that was not bad enough, on December 23, 2016, President Obama instructed Samantha Power to abstain as 14 members of the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334:
- That Israel′s settlement activity constitutes a “flagrant violation” of international law and has “no legal validity”
- It further demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention
Somebody needs to let the Arab world and the UN know that the Obama administration is long gone, and Egypt, Syria and Jordan lost the 1967 war.
All three well armed, well financed Arab armies met defeat in 6 days. The reason it had to be won in 6? Because God rests on the 7th.
Amen and Amen.
