Trump Regime Calls Illegal Israel Settlements Legal

There’s no ambiguity about the illegality of Israeli settlements. International law on the issue is clear and unequivocal. 

It’s automatically US constitutional law under its Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2).

Fourth Geneva’s Article 49 states:

“Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”

“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

Security Council Resolution 2334 (December 2016) said the following:

Settlements have “no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation under international law.”

The resolution demands “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”

It recognizes no territorial changes “to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.”

It “(c)alls upon all States, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

It “(c)alls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, calls for accountability in this regard…”

Note: Security Council resolutions are binding international law on all 193 UN member states. They’re automatically US constitutional law.

On Monday, Pompeo turned international and US constitutional law on its head, stating:

“The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law (sic),” adding:

“Israeli courts have confirmed the legality of certain settlement activities…”

Fact: His announcement green-lighted US approval for unlimited Israeli settlement expansions on stolen Palestinian land, perhaps driving a final nail in the no-peace/peace process — the greatest hoax in modern times, along with the US war on terror waged on humanity.

Fact: Israeli or other courts calling illegal settlements legal flagrantly breach binding international law.

Pompeo: “(T)he conclusion that will no longer recognize Israeli settlements as per se inconsistent with international law (sic) is based on the unique facts, history, and circumstances presented by the establishment of civilian settlements in the West Bank (sic).”

Fact: There’s nothing “unique” about revanchist aims of nations with territorial ambitions beyond their borders.

Fact: The principle of territorial integrity in international law prohibits states from forcefully usurping control over land not their own.

Fact: UN Charter Article 2 (4) affirms this principle, stating: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

Fact: In 1948, Israel stole 78% of historic Palestine, in June 1967 illegally taking the rest.

In 1947, the UN General Assembly declared Jerusalem an international city, a corpus separatum under a world body protectorate. It’s not the legal capital of Israel or any other country.

On June 30, 1980, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 476 (the US abstaining), declaring “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant (Fourth Geneva) violation.”

Israel claiming the city, “complete and united, as (its) capital” has no legal standing.

East Jerusalem is illegally occupied territory. So is historic Palestine, lawlessly seized by Israel during its 1948 war of aggression, massacring and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, replacing their cities, towns and villages with Israeli ones – exacerbating their long nightmare, begun following the infamous 1917 Balfour Declaration.

The US and Israel consistently breach binding Security Council resolutions and other international laws that differ from their imperial aims.

Palestine belongs to the Palestinians. Theft of their land by Israel has no legal validity.

Pompeo falsely claimed that the US is “deeply committed to helping facilitate peace…”

Its historical actions reveal otherwise, smashing one nation after another, waging economic terrorism against sovereign states, supporting Israeli aggression against defenseless Palestinians, along with a long history of hostile actions against ordinary people at home and abroad.

In response to Pompeo’s Monday announcement, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the following:

“The EU calls on Israel to end all settlement activity, in line with its obligations as an occupying power.”

Fact: EU nations operate as virtual US colonies, partnering in its wars of aggression and economic terrorism, along with taking no actions against Israeli high crimes and other abuses of power throughout Jewish state history.

Mogherini’s remark was hollow, Brussels doing nothing to hold Israeli accountable for time and again breaching international law, nothing to support the fundamental rights of Palestinians and ordinary people everywhere — consistently pursuing might over right.

Netanyahu praised the Trump regime’s illegal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, its illegal control of Syria’s Golan and settlements on stolen Palestinian land.

PLO member Saeb Erekat condemned the Trump regime’s position on settlements, saying “once (again it) undermine(d) international law,” affirmed Israel’s illegal “occupation, (its) war crimes, (its) threat to international peace and security…”

PLO member Hanan Ashrawi made similar remarks, saying Pompeo “sen(t) a clear signal that (the Trump regime) ha(s) total disregard for international law, for what is right and just, and for the requirements of peace.”

The US under both right wings of its war party operates by its own rules exclusively — serving its own interests at the expense of world peace, stability, equity, justice, and the rule of law.

Israel operates the same way, how it’s been throughout its history.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.


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Articles by: Stephen Lendman

About the author:

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

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