The Right Stance On Israeli Settlements
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The June 17 A-section article "Old Legal Opinion Raises New Questions" might be read to imply that the Carter administration broke new ground in finding Israeli settlements unlawful. It did not.
Since the Six-Day War of June 1967, it has been the U.S. government's position that Israel is bound in these territories by the international law on belligerent occupation. Until President Ronald Reagan took office, our government shared the international consensus that this law prohibits changes such as civilian settlements. Mr. Reagan's embrace of a distinctly minority contrary view was an unfortunate diversion.
The minority legal argument is that, because Egypt and Jordan -- which Israel ousted from these territories in 1967 in lawful self-defense -- were themselves illegal occupiers, Israel was not bound by international occupation law aimed at respecting the rights of a defeated sovereign nation pending peace.
The most important flaw in this argument is that it overlooks the rights of the people living there at the time. Self-determination for Palestinian Arabs was advanced in 1949 by the Israeli government itself as the basis for settling the future of these territories -- and rightly so.
It is tragic for both Israelis and Palestinians that those who defend the legitimacy of the settlements have lost sight of this.
DAVID H. SMALL
Chevy Chase
The writer was an assistant legal adviser for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the State Department during the Carter administration.
