US Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said Monday that Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria “make peace harder to achieve”, after the Trump administration declared that the US no longer considers these communities to be contrary to international law.
“Another blatantly ideological attempt by the Trump administration to distract from its failures in the region. Not only do these settlements violate international law—they make peace harder to achieve. As president, I will reverse this policy and pursue a two state solution,” Warren tweeted.
In the past, Warren has called on the Israeli government to respect the rights of Palestinian Arab protesters on the Gaza border. The protests, dubbed the “March of the Return”, have been occurring on a weekly basis since March 30 of 2018 and have been orchestrated and encouraged by Hamas.
Warren also voted in favor of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and skipped Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s March 2015 speech to Congress in which he spoke out against the agreement.
Shortly after she announced her presidential bid, Warren said that the United States should be pushing Israel and the Palestinian Authority toward a two-state solution.
One of Warren’s rival in the Democratic presidential race, Senator Bernie Sanders, also slammed the Trump administration’s announcement on Monday.
“Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal. This is clear from international law and multiple United Nations resolutions. Once again, Mr. Trump is isolating the United States and undermining diplomacy by pandering to his extremist base,” wrote Sanders.