RTÉ Brainstorm – US policy change on Israeli settlements makes peace more remote

Whitaker Institute member Professor Ray Murphy, of the Conflict, Humanitarianism, and Security cluster, has a new piece on RTÉ Brainstorm. The piece looks at the U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine and the changes to it under the current administration.

US policy change on Israeli settlements makes peace more remote

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US president Donald Trump meet at the White House in March 2018. Photo: AP

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US president Donald Trump meet at the White House in March 2018. Photo: AP
Opinion: the current US administration has turned decades of US policy on Israel and Palestine on its headThe change in US policy on the legal status of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land occupied by Israel since 1967 makes the likelihood of peace in the region even more remote. It also further undermines the prospect of establishing an independent state of Palestine, the so called two-state solution.  It does, however, offer a short term gift to interim Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and friend of US president Donald Trump, in his efforts to form a new Israeli government. In terms of domestic US politics, it also panders to the evangelical right, a group critical to Trump’s support base and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s ambitions for a senate seat in Kentucky. Continue reading…