Are Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian territory legal?
Israeli settlements established in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are a clear violation of both sets of law and agreement on settlements illegality is the consensus position of the international community including the European Union, the United Nations, and the United States government.
Are Israeli settlements illegal under international law?
Most states and international bodies have long recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
Are the Israeli settlements in the Sinai Peninsula legal?
The position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are entirely legal and consistent with international law, despite Israel's armistice agreements all being with High Contracting Parties.
Why does Israel allow people to settle in its territories?
Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel.
Does Israel have illegal settlements?
Number of settlements and inhabitants As of 2022, there are 140 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem. In addition, there are over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank.
Are Israeli settlements in violation of international law?
The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, the International Court of Justice, as well as the international community in general have stated Israeli settlements violate the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian laws.
Why are there Israeli settlements in Palestine?
After the military assaults of 1948-'50, Zionist armed forces, subsequently transformed into the Israeli army, constructed Jewish settlements over the ruins of Palestinian towns and villages throughout the 78 percent of historic Palestine they controlled.
Does Israel have a claim to their land?
The Israel–Jordan Treaty of Peace, signed on 1993, led to the establishment of an agreed border between the two nations, and subsequently the state of Israel has no territorial claims in the parts of the historic Land of Israel lying east of the Jordan river.
What land has Israel taken from Palestine?
More than 50 years ago, the state of Israel shocked the world when it seized the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, in a matter of six days.
Does Israel have a right to the West Bank?
Israel claims historical and religious rights to the West Bank as the ancestral land of the Jewish people. It also says its presence there - especially in the Jordan Valley - is strategically vital for its self-defence.
Is Palestine a country or part of Israel?
Since 1948, the region has been divided into Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The State of Palestine, a de-jure sovereign country, is in an ongoing sovereignty dispute with Israel.
Who lived in Palestine first?
The earliest human remains in the region were found in Ubeidiya, some 3 km south of the Sea of Galilee, in the Jordan Rift Valley. The remains are dated to the Pleistocene, c. 1.5 million years ago. These are traces of the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa.
Why does Israel build settlements in the West Bank?
Settlements are communities of Jews that have been moving to the West Bank since it came under Israeli occupation in 1967. Some of the settlers move there for religious reasons, some because they want to claim the West Bank territory as Israeli land, and some because the housing there tends to be cheap and subsidized.
How many UN resolutions has Israel violated?
As of 2013, the State of Israel had been condemned in 45 resolutions by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Since the UNHRC's creation in 2006, it has resolved almost more resolutions condemning Israel alone than on issues for the rest of the world combined.
Is Israel part of the Geneva Convention?
Israel ratified the Geneva Conventions on July 6, 1951. Israel has not signed or ratified the 1907 Hague Regulations, but the Israeli High Court has found that the 1907 Hague Regulations are part of customary international law, and thus binding on all states, including those not party to the treaty.
Is Gaza occupied under international law?
Although the United Nations still maintains that Gaza is occupied, under both the literal and interpreted applications of the definition of occupation— characterized by what is termed “effective control”—Gaza is not occupied territory pursuant to the standards set forth in international law and doctrine.
What percentage of land does Israel give to Palestinians?
Within Area C, where most settlement construction is based, Israel has allocated 70% of the land to settlements and only 1% to Palestinians.
How did the expansion of settlements affect the Palestinians?
Violations of the right to earn a decent living through work: The expansion of settlements has reduced the amount of land available to Palestinians for herding and agriculture, increasing the dependency of rural communities on humanitarian assistance. Settler violence and the destruction of Palestinian-owned crops and olive trees have damaged the livelihoods of farmers. The UN has reported that in Hebron city centre, the Israeli military has forced 512 Palestinian businesses to close, while more than 1,000 others have shut down due to restricted access for customers and suppliers.
What are the violations of the rights of Palestinians?
Violations of the rights to equality and non-discrimination: Systematic discrimination against Palestinians is inherent in virtually all aspects of Israel’s administration of the OPT. Palestinians are also specifically targeted for a range of actions that constitute human rights violations. The Israeli government allows settlers to exploit land and natural resources that belong to Palestinians. Israel provides preferential treatment to Israeli businesses operating in the OPT while putting up barriers to, or simply blocking, Palestinian ones. Israeli citizens receive entitlements and Palestinians face restrictions on the grounds of nationality, ethnicity and religion, in contravention of international standards.
How many houses have been destroyed in Israel?
Violations of the right to adequate housing: Since 1967, Israel has constructed tens of thousands of homes on Palestinian land to accommodate settlers while, at the same time, demolishing an estimated 50,000 Palestinian homes and other structures, such as farm buildings and water tanks. Israel also carries out demolitions as a form of collective punishment against the families of individuals accused of attacks on Israelis. In East Jerusalem, about 800 houses have been demolished since 2004 for lack of permits. Israel also confiscates houses inhabited by Palestinians in the city to allocate them to settlers. By forcibly evicting and/or demolishing their homes without providing adequate alternative accommodation, Israel has failed in its duty to respect the right to adequate housing of thousands of Palestinians.
What are the rights of Israel?
States have a duty to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of people under their jurisdiction, including people living in territory that is outside national borders but under the effective control of the state. The ICJ confirmed that Israel is obliged to extend the application of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other treaties to which it is a state party to people in the OPT. Israel is a state party to numerous international human rights treaties and, as the occupying power, it has well defined obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of Palestinians.
What weapons did Israel use to suppress protests?
Israeli forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets and occasionally live rounds to suppress peaceful protests. Violations of the rights to equality and non-discrimination: Systematic discrimination against Palestinians is inherent in virtually all aspects of Israel’s administration of the OPT.
What is the status of settlements under international law?
STATUS OF SETTLEMENTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW. Israel’s policy of settling its civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.
When did Israel legalize settlements?
During the 1970s, Israel's Supreme Court regularly ruled that the establishment of civilian settlements by military commanders was legal on the basis that they formed part of the territorial defense network and were considered temporary measures needed for military and security purposes.
When did the Israeli Supreme Court rule on settlements?
In 1978 and 1979 the Israeli Supreme court, prompted by the new government policies, ruled on two important cases that set out the requirements for Israeli settlement legality under international law.
What was the Israeli law in 1967?
Shortly after independence, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental principles of international law, accepted as binding by all civilized nations , were to be incorporated in the domestic legal system of Israel. In the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. Theodor Meron, at the time the Israeli government's authority on the topic of international law and legal counsel to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, was asked to provide a memorandum regarding the status in international law of proposed settlement of the territories, which he subsequently addressed to the Foreign Minister Abba Eban on 14 September 1967. He concluded that short-term military settlements would be permissible, but that "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention," adding that the prohibition on any such population transfer was categorical, and that "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention ." It follows from the presence on files of these notes, Gershom Gorenberg argues, that the Prime Minister at the time, Levi Eshkol, knew that Israeli settlements in the territories Israel had just occupied would violate international laws and that by that time Eshkol had been actively engaged in exploring the possibility of settling the newly conquered region. Meron's unequivocal legal opinion was marked top secret and not made public.
What did Ronald Reagan say about the settlements?
Notwithstanding the Hansell opinion, the official US position had been that the settlements are "an obstacle to peace". In February 1981, Ronald Reagan announced that he didn't believe that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were illegal. He added that "the UN resolution leaves the West Bank open to all people, Arab and Israeli alike". Hoping to achieve a peace deal, he nevertheless asked Israel to freeze construction calling the settlements an "obstacle to peace". The permissive attitude taken by America accelerated the pace of Israel's settlement programme. Reagan's view on the settlements legality was not held by the State Department. The George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations did not publicly comment on the legality of Israeli settlements, but spoke publicly against them. Since the Clinton administration, the U.S. has continued to object to the settlements, calling them "obstacles to peace" and prejudicial to the outcome of final status talks. Although President Barack Obama and diplomatic officials in his administration have stated, "the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," in February 2011 the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have declared the settlements illegal. In December 2016, the U.S. abstained on a Security Council Resolution that declared that Israeli settlements are illegal and deemed their continuing construction a "flagrant violation" of international law. In abstaining, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power stated, "Today the Security Council reaffirmed its established consensus that the settlements have no legal validity. The United States has been sending a message that settlements must stop privately and publicly for nearly five decades." This position was United States policy and had been stated by Secretary of State John Kerry and by the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Obama administrations. In November 2019, the Trump administration expressly repudiated the Hansell opinion and stated that the United States considered the status of the settlements as being "not inconsistent with" international law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said: "The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace." However, Pompeo added that "the United States Government is expressing no view on the legal status of any individual settlement."
What article of the Geneva Convention is against the settlements?
Hansell concluded that the settlements are "inconsistent with international law", and against Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Hansell Memorandum found that " [w]hile Israel may undertake, in the occupied territories, actions necessary to meet its military needs and to provide for orderly government during the occupation, for the reasons indicated above the establishment of the civilian settlements in those territories is inconsistent with international law."
Why did Israel take control of the West Bank?
It has been argued that Israel took control of the West Bank as a result of a defensive war. Former Israeli diplomat Dore Gold writes that:
Which country has always affirmed the de jure applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention?
The International Committee of the Red Cross in a declaration of December 2001 stated that "the ICRC has always affirmed the de jure applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the territories occupied since 1967 by the state of Israel , including East Jerusalem".
Why does Israel promote settlement growth?
Finally, we can consider why Israel continues to promote settlement growth. Though there may be specific political reasons for specific settlement projects, the overarching reason Israel promotes settlement growth is security. Under the armistices lines, Israel was cut off by the West Bank, and enemy borders were close to population centers. For example, the distance between the West Bank city of Qalqilya and the Mediterranean sea is only about 9 miles.
How did Israel respond to the Egyptian invasion?
Israel responded by destroying the Egyptian airforce. Faced with an Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian invasion, Israel defeated the three Arab armies in six days. Israel captured the Sinai and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
When did Israel take over the Golan Heights?
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, and annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 via the Golan Heights Law. Though the armistice agreement with Syria stressed the mutability of the armistice lines, and though Syria refused Israel's offer, to return the Golan Heights in exchange for peace, that annexation is not internationally recognized.
What does Article 49(6) mean?
Irony would thus be pushed to the absurdity of claiming that Article 49 (6), designed to prevent repetition of Na zi-type genocidal policies of rendering Nazi metropolitan territories judenrein, has now come to mean that ... the West Bank .. must be made judenrein.
Is Israel willing to transfer land to Palestine?
Given that Israel is willing to transfer to Palestine as much land as it wishes to keep, the settlements cannot sensibly be framed as a land grab: they grant Israel no additional land. In terms of danger: the settlements experienced a good deal of violence during the Second Intifada: hundreds of Israeli civilians died.
Did the Palestinians have sovereignty over the West Bank?
Many of these settlements were established on land you'd be hard pressed to call Palestinian. The Palestinians never held sovereignty over the West Bank, and rejected all promises of sovereignty over those areas (including in 1936-1937, 1938, and 1947 ), and some of the areas on which settlements were established, like Gush Etzion and Hevron, had Jewish communities that had existed sometimes for thousands of years before they were depopulated in Arab riots and by Arab armies in Israel's war for independence.
Is the Israeli settlement a land grab?
It is commonly claimed that the establishment of Israeli settlements constitutes a land grab, however this claim does not stand up to scrutiny. The settlement blocs Israel wishes to keep in an agreement with Palestine comprise only a few percent of the West Bank, and Israel is willing to transfer an equal amount of land in exchange for those settlements.
What are the Israeli settlements?
Israeli settlements are one of the core and most insidious issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Settlements are the most emblematic symbol of the discriminatory system that Palestinian people are facing on an ongoing basis since 1948. They have a devastating impact on Palestinians’ human rights, as well as on their social and economic well-being.
What is settlement in Israel?
In the context of the West Bank, the term “Israeli settlement” refers to civilian communities of Jewish people with Israeli citizenship. The size of these communities can vary from small villages to big towns. They can also take many different forms, such as rural, urban, community and cooperative settlements [1].
What is Israel's policy on building houses?
Israel has the practise of ordering the eviction of Palestinians from their houses in order to replace them with settlers [46], of demolishing Palestinian houses in order to build houses for settlers and of denying of building permits to Palestinians in order to maintain the “Jewishness” of an area .
What is the law that confiscates Palestinian property?
The legal mechanism that has been used by Israel in order to confiscate Palestinian properties for its own use is the Absentees’ Property Law . Under the law, “property” includes immovable and movable property, moneys, a vested or contingent right in property, goodwill and any right in a body of persons or in its management. The law states that the properties of any absentee [41] will be taken and transferred to the control of the Custodian for guardianship until a political solution for the refugee problem was reached. Although a theoretical possibility was recognized for absentees to acquire the property back after confiscation, this was impracticable in the majority of the cases [42]. The Absentee Property Law has also been used over the years as a tool by Israeli settler associations for the takeover of Palestinian owned properties in East Jerusalem [43].
What is the human rights law?
Human rights law lays down rights, principles and obligations that States are bound to respect; the right to equality and freedom from discrimination constitutes one of the fundamental human rights principle [31].
How did settlements affect the West Bank?
Settlements have had the practical effect of dividing up and fragmenting the West Bank territory, affecting the demographic composition of the territory . By the end of 2017, 132 units of settlements and 106 outposts units were estimated inside the West Bank territory, Jerusalem excluded, with more than four hundred thousand settlers living inside [56]. This means that thirteen percent of the population living in the West Bank is composed of settlers. In addition, settlements have led to a lack of sovereignty over natural resources, such as land and water, as described above.
Where are the settlements in the West Bank?
Settlements have been built not only inside the West Bank Territory (including East Jerusalem) but also within the Syrian territory [2] in the Golan Heights. Those settlements that had had built in the Gaza Strip where removed in 2005 by a controversial decision of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [3] . In the West Bank, settlements are mainly located in “Area C” [4], under the full Israeli civil administration and security control; they are partly built on Palestinian private lands.
Status of Settlements Under International Law
Settlements, Discrimination and Human Rights Violations
- States have a duty to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of people under their jurisdiction, including people living in territory that is outside national borders but under the effective control of the state. The ICJ confirmed that Israel is obliged to extend the application of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on Econo…
Sustained International Condemnation
- Most states and international bodies have long recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The European Union (EU) has clearly stated that: “settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law, constitutes an obstacle to peace and threatens to ...