While Mike Huckabee’s comments referred to the occupied Palestinian territory in totality, he also specifically addressed the proposed settlement of the E1 area of occupied Jerusalem.
“Whether or not there should be massive development in E1 is a decision for the government of Israel to make,” Huckabee said.
“We would not try to evaluate the good and the bad of that, but simply just say that, as a general rule, it is not a violation of international law.”
“It’s also, I think, incumbent on all of us to recognise that Israelis have a right to live in Israel,” he added.
Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, told Middle East Eye that settlement expansion was a violation of international law and a war crime.
“The answer is yes – the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population to a militarily occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, is a war crime.”
Shakir also stated the US was a signatory to the Geneva Convention, but the Fourth Geneva Convention has “the status of customary international law, making it applicable universally”.
In 2020, the European Union and 15 European countries denounced the plans to develop E1 in a protest letter, the second of its kind.
“Settlements are illegal under International Humanitarian Law. Any further settlement construction in this strategically sensitive area will have a devastating impact on a contiguous Palestinian State, as well as severely undermining the possibility of a negotiated two-state solution in line with internationally agreed parameters,” the letter said.
Huckabee maintained in the interview that “the US would not interfere in how Israel runs its country”.
“We will not dictate to Israel what to do, we will not interfere in the running of the country. It would be very strange to say that others can live in this area but Israelis cannot.”
Mike Huckabee’s comments come after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Thursday that he was planning to relaunch the E1 area settlement project that would see the construction of thousands of new housing units in the E1 area, east of Jerusalem.
Doing so would unite Jerusalem with the illegal Ma’ale Adumim settlement – several kilometres to the east – and cut the occupied West Bank in two, isolating Palestinian communities.
During his announcement, Smotrich praised the proposal as “a reality that buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there’s nothing to recognise and no one to recognise it”.
“This is Zionism at its best – building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel,” he added.
The initial idea for E1 settlement was first touted decades ago, but was buried because of international condemnation – from both states and human right organisations.
The Israeli government expected to approve construction plans for E1 this week. The United Nations urged Israel to not start any work on the settlement.
The UN’s spokesperson for the secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters that illegal E1 settlement expansion “would put an end to prospects of a two-state solution”.
“Settlements go against international law… [and] further entrench the occupation,” Dujarric stated.
Quds Network described the proposal as a “death sentence to establishing the Palestinian state”.
