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Pompeo Did Not "Reverse 41 Years of U.S. Policy" on Settlements
(Spectator-UK) Stephen Daisley - The Carter administration adopted the position that settlements were illegal in 1978. This was reversed by Ronald Reagan in 1981. Thereafter, the U.S. maintained a balanced position of discouraging settlements without branding them illegal. That was until the dying days of the Obama administration when John Kerry reverted to the Carter stance. Far from "reversing 41 years of U.S. policy" as is being claimed, Pompeo has restored the stance maintained for at least 35 of the last 41 years. The assertion that Israeli settlements "violate international law" - when the same legal instruments are not applied to other territorial disputes - is an attempt to judicialize political preference. Rather than assert a new principle of international law, the U.S. has restored a lifeline to a rigorous interpretation. Israel already considered settlements legal. The Israeli Supreme Court will continue determining which settlements are consistent with Israeli law and which are not. The absence of a Palestinian state remains a matter of the Palestinian leadership refusing to accept one.