Russia, Turkey and Arab League slam US decision to 'legalize' Israeli settlements in West Bank, say it damages peace process - Updates

RT
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 13:28 UTC

© Reuters / Ammar Awad

Moscow slams US decision to ‘legalize’ Israeli settlements in West Bank, says it puts spanner in the works for peace process
A general view shows construction of the Israeli settlement of Ramat Givat Zeev in the occupied-West Bank November 19, 2019

The US decision to recognize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as legal will aggravate the situation in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"We consider Washington's decision as another step aimed at scrapping the international legal base of the Middle East settlement," Moscow stated, adding the US move will only further undermine the "already tense situation in Palestinian-Israeli relations."

Russia's position remains unchanged, viewing Israeli settlement construction on the West Bank has no legal force and exists at odds with international law. It erodes the path to peaceful solution on a basis of the two-state concept, the ministry argued.

Russian diplomats urged all parties to refrain from steps that could provoke a new escalation.

Comment: Turkey had sharp words for the US decision as well:

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has blasted Washington over its decision to reverse the US's previous position on the illegal nature of Israeli settlements in West Bank.

"No country is above international law. Fait accompli style declarations shall have no validity with respect to international law," Cavusoglu wrote on his official Twitter account, referring to Secretary Pompeo's statement.

[...]

Turkish-Israeli relations have been poor for years, ever since the 2010 Israeli commando raid on a Turkish aid ship heading to Gaza, with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly engaging in a back and forth war of words, accusing one another of corrupt behaviour, of "occupying" stolen territories, and branding one another as a "dictator" or "Nazi." Earlier this year, President Erdogan declared that "whoever is on the side of Israel, let everyone know that we are against them."

And the Arab League made made a similarly strong condemnation of the decision:

The Arab League strongly condemns US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Monday announcement, in which he said that Jewish settlements established by Israel in the West Bank were no longer inconsistent with international law, the organization's head, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said on Tuesday.

Aboul Gheit condemned in the strongest terms the statement, issued by US Secretary of State [Mike Pompeo], that his country no longer viewed the Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be contrary to international law and considered it as a very negative development," the head said in a statement.

He added that international law was formulated by the global community, "but not by a single state."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that Washington no longer views Israeli settlements in the West Bank as inconsistent with international law. It marked a reversal of America's longstanding legal opinion labeling them illegal since 1978.

The move triggered a massive condemnation, with Palestinians saying that the measure "endorses law of the jungle." UN for its part reiterated its point that the settlements are in breach of international law.

Comment: The US decision to recognize Israeli settlements has, predictably, emboldened the Israeli settlers to repeat their call for an all-out annexation of West Bank:

The effective endorsement of Jewish settlements in the West Bank by the United States on Monday became the latest in a string of explicitly pro-Israel moves by the Trump administration.

Mike Pompeo's bombshell announcement on Jewish settlements has invigorated settler leaders in Israel, who are now calling on their government to annex Palestinian territory.

Oded Revivi, a lawyer in charge of the settlement of Efrat and spokesman for the Yesha umbrella group, has urged Tel Aviv to extend its sovereignty onto the lands.

"Settlement is not a crime and it is not an obstacle to peace," he said, as quoted by The Times of Israel, adding that US envoy to Israel David Friedman had lobbied for the move.

Yisrael Gantz, chair of the Binyamin Regional Council, which governs 46 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, described the announcement as a "major step toward [Israeli] sovereignty [in the West Bank]."

He similarly called on the government to annex "Judea and Samaria", as the West Bank is officially designated in Israel.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a dramatic statement on Monday that the United States would no longer abide by a 1978 State Department legal opinion that Jewish settlements in the West Bank violate international law.

The United Nations, in a number of resolutions, has called those settlements illegal, pointing out that they were set up within territories which were occupied during a war. As much as 138 of the 193 UN member states have recognised Palestinian statehood, including the overwhelming majority of nations in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Palestinians, meanwhile, want the West Bank to comprise their future state, and argue that the sprawling Jewish settlements would effectively kill off this plan.

Despite objections from the UN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long pushed for the establishment of more settlements in those territories, citing historic ties with the West Bank and security reasons, and campaigned on a pledge to annex parts of the West Bank. He said on Monday that the US move "rights a historical wrong" but didn't reaffirm his annexation promise.

The Trump administration has openly cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution, which had been the core of American policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the past several decades, and has made a number of pro-Israel police decisions during the past two years. In a show of support for the Netanyahu government, Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus recognising it as the capital of Israel, and declared the disputed Golan Heights as part of the Jewish State.

The new American policy has raised more questions about the success of Trump's plan for peace between Israel and Palestinians, which includes a series of economic and political measures, but excludes a two-state solution.