A Nation of Illegals?

Moshe Dann
Frontpagemag.com
14 May '10
Posted before Shabbat

Although many substantive legal arguments support the right of Jews to build in Judea, Samaria (the West Bank) and the eastern part of Jerusalem, Israeli communities are accused of being “illegal” according to “international law”. But, what is this “law” and who decided that Israel was guilty?

UN resolutions are not laws, or sources of laws. The UN’s primary judicial organ, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issues advisory opinions which are only recommendations, and, although they are influential, are not proper legal decisions. Unable to get a fair hearing before the ICJ, Israel does not appear there.

In fact, the UN Charter (Article 10) does not grant the General Assembly, or the ICJ the authority to determine the ownership of disputed territories – although it does so anyway.

“The law” is the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC IV) – one of the most important sources of conventional international and humanitarian law. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the official “guardian” of the GC IV, met secretly at their headquarters in Geneva in 1971 and unilaterally decided that Jewish communities built in areas acquired after the Six Day War were actually “illegal” because they “violated” GC IV. Because ICRC rulings are considered authoritative, they are used by the international community to condemn Israeli “settlements,” and “occupation.”

The legal status of Palestine, designated as the “Jewish national homeland,” was established by the League of Nations (1920), the San Remo Agreements (1920) and the British Mandate (1922), and endorsed by the US Congress; that was “the law,” and remains so today, despite the ICRC.

ICRC and UN Resolutions declared that “Israeli settlements are illegal.” They didn’t say, however, to whom this territory belongs. Palestinian leaders have said they will declare sovereignty and ask for UN recognition. But, with the Palestinian Authority (PA) divided between Fatah and Hamas, its leadership shaky, who rules? And who will rule in the future?

(Read full article)

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