Israel Matzav: About those 'illegal' Jewish settlements

About those 'illegal' Jewish settlements

With President Obama the first American President since Jimmy Carter to call Israeli 'settlements' in Judea and Samaria 'illegal' or illegitimate, Commentary has a lengthy article this month with a legal analysis of why the 'settlements' are neither.

Here's their conclusion:

The idea that the creation of new settlements or that the expansion of ones already in place is an act of bad faith on the part of various Israeli governments may seem without question to those who believe those settlements constitute an obstacle to the ever elusive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Whether this argument is well-founded or not, the willingness of Israel’s critics to assert that these communities are not merely wrong-headed but a violation of international law escalates the debate over their existence from a dispute about policy into one in which the Jewish state itself can be labeled as an international outlaw. The ultimate end of the illicit effort to use international law to delegitimize the settlements is clear—it is the same argument used by Israel’s enemies to delegitimize the Jewish state entirely. Those who consider themselves friends of Israel but opponents of the settlement policy should carefully consider whether, in advancing these illegitimate and specious arguments, they will eventually be unable to resist the logic of the argument that says—falsely and without a shred of supporting evidence from international law itself—that Israel is illegitimate.

Read the whole thing.

Israel Matzav: About those 'illegal' Jewish settlements