(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that the U.S. is reversing its position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law,” Pompeo said at a news conference in Washington. “What we've done today is we've recognized the reality on the ground.”
The move signals a significant shift in U.S. policy and is the latest offering to Israel since President Donald Trump took office, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Portraying the move as a return to U.S. policy under Republican President Ronald Reagan, Pompeo said Israeli courts will continue to decide whether particular settlements are lawful.
The move could provide a boost to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces potential criminal charges over alleged corruption and the end of his record-long rule following national elections in September that has left the two leading parties struggling to build a governing coalition.
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Netanyahu, a close ally of Trump, has said that a long-promised U.S. peace plan for the Mideast would offer Israel the chance to extend sovereignty to settlements in the West Bank. Palestinian leaders have said the Trump administration's moves have doomed prospects for such a plan.
“Today, the United States adopted an important policy that rights a historical wrong,” Netanyahu's office said. “The Trump administration clearly rejected the false claim that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are inherently illegal under international law.”
Veteran Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi denounced Pompeo in a tweet, saying the West Bank decision is “another blow to international law, justice & peace by a Biblical absolutist waiting for the ‘rapture.”'
But Pompeo said the decision would increase the chances of a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“We do believe that the result of this legal review creates the political space for a more likely resolution,” he said.
--With assistance from Yaacov Benmeleh, David Wainer and Nick Wadhams.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ivan Levingston in Tel Aviv at ilevingston@bloomberg.net;David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert
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