US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to disavow a long-standing United States position that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are inconsistent with international law, according to media reports on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2019) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to disavow a long-standing United States position that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are inconsistent with international law, according to media reports on Monday.Pompeo will be repudiating later on Monday a 1978 US State Department legal opinion on Israeli settlements, which are home to more than 600,000 Israelis, Associated Press reported.
"Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace," the report quoted Pompeo's draft statement. "The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.''
The move is the latest in a series undertaken by the Trump administration to bolster Israel's grip over the West Bank and East Jerusalem - territories claimed by the Palestinians to establish their own state.
