14 | DECEMBER 5 • 2019 

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Editor’
s note: Michigan 
Congressman Andy Levin com-
posed a letter Nov. 19 to Secretary 
of State Mike Pompeo expressing 
the disagreement regarding the 
U.S. stance that West Bank Jewish 
settlements are no longer illegal. 
More than 100 Democrats signed 
the letter, including Michigan 
representatives Rashida Tlaib, 
Debbie Dingell, Brenda Lawrence 
and Dan Kildee.
W

e write to express 
our strong disagree-
ment with the State 
Department’
s decision to reverse 
decades of bipartisan U.S. poli-
cy on Israeli settlements in the 
occupied West Bank by repudi-
ating the 1978 State Department 
legal opinion that civilian settle-
ments in the occupied territories 
are “inconsistent with interna-
tional law.
” 
This announcement, follow-
ing the administration’
s decision 
to move the U.S. embassy to 
Jerusalem outside of a nego-
tiated agreement; its closure 
of the Palestinian mission in 
Washington, D.C., and U.S. con-
sulate in Jerusalem; and its halt-
ing of aid Congress appropriated 
to the West Bank and Gaza, has 
discredited the United States as 
an honest broker between Israel 
and the Palestinian Authority, 
severely damaged prospects for 
peace, and endangered the secu-
rity of America, Israel and the 
Palestinian people. 
U.S. administrations from 
both parties have followed the 
1978 guidance because settle-
ment expansion into the occu-
pied West Bank makes a contig-
uous Palestinian state inviable, 
jeopardizing Israel’
s future as a 
secure, democratic homeland 

for the Jewish people. The State 
Department’
s unilateral reversal 
on the status of settlements, 
without any clear legal justifica-
tion, therefore, has offered a tacit 
endorsement of settlements, 
their expansion and associat-
ed demolitions of Palestinian 
homes. 
In addition, one day after the 
Department’
s decision, Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
moved to advance a bill to annex 
the Jordan Valley. As annexation 
and the United States’
 approval 
thereof would destroy prospects 
for a two-state solution and lead 
to a more entrenched and pos-
sibly deadlier conflict, this deci-
sion erodes the security of both 
Israel and the United States. 
This State Department 
decision blatantly disregards 
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva 
Convention, which affirms that 
any occupying power shall not 
“deport or transfer parts of its 
own civilian population into 
the territory it occupies.
” In 
ignoring international law, this 
administration has undermined 
America’
s moral standing and 
sent a dangerous message to 
those who do not share our val-
ues: human rights and interna-
tional law, which have governed 
the international order and pro-
tected U.S. troops and civilians 
since 1949, no longer apply. 
If the U.S. unilaterally aban-
dons international and human 
rights law, we can only expect 
a more chaotic and brutal 21st 
century for Americans and 
our allies, including the Israeli 
people.
Given these serious impli-
cations, we strongly urge you 
to reverse this policy decision 
immediately. 

letter to congress
100 Congresspeople Say 
Reverse Settlement Decision

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