Over 100 Democratic House members on Friday excoriated the Trump administration for softening its position on Israel’s West Bank settlements.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law,” breaking with decades of US policy.
The move, legislators wrote in a letter to Pompeo, made the possibility of an Israel-Palestinian peace agreement more difficult and hurt America’s interests in the Middle East.
“The announcement… has discredited the United States as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, severely damaged prospects for peace, and endangered the security of America, Israel, and the Palestinian people,” the letter says.
Orchestrated by the Jewish Michigan Representative Andy Levin, a freshman Democrat, the missive was signed by several other prominent members of Congress, including Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline, Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, and others.
The lawmakers warned that the Trump administration’s decision “blatantly disregards Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention” regarding the rules governing the actions of an occupying power.
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