Israeli-occupied territories

The Golan Heights plateau overlooking the site of the ancient city of Hippos

The Israeli-occupied territories is one of a number of terms used to describe areas captured by Israel from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. The term is generally used to refer to the Gaza Strip,the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The term was also used to describe the Sinai Peninsula, which was returned to Egypt as part of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Israel commonly refers to the West Bank and Gaza Strip as the "Disputed Territories" (see below). The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 242 following the Six Day War, calling on Israel to withdraw from Occupied Territories (extent disputed) under comprehensive peace treaties.

Political status

The current and future political status of the territories is very controversial. Specific issues include the legality of Israeli's policy of encouraging settlement, whether it is legitimate for Israel to annex portions of the territories, whether Israel is legally an occupying power according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and whether an independent Palestinian state will be created in the territories.

Specific territories

The Sinai Peninsula

Santa Catarina Monastery, Mount Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula is a sparsely populated territory between the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel first captured the Sinai, along with the Gaza Strip, during the 1956 Suez Campaign. Israel's invasion of the Sinai was coordinated with France and the United Kingdom's seizure of the Suez Canal. Pressure from the Soviet Union and the United States forced Israel to withdraw from both the Sinai and Gaza the next year.

After re-capturing the Sinai in the 1967 Six Days War, Israel began establishing settlements along the Gulf of Aqaba, and in the northeast portion, just below the Gaza Strip, with plans to expand the settlement of Yamit into a city with a population of 200,000 . The actual population of Yamit, however, never exceeded 3,000. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt beginning in 1979 under the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty following the 1978 Camp David Accords. Israel completed its withdrawal, including the dismantling of its settlements, in 1982. The returned territory included the only oil resources under Israeli control.

Israeli Security Zone

See also Israeli Security Zone and South Lebanon Army.

From 1982 to 2000 Israel ocupied the southern part of Lebanon.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip

See also: Political status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Jointly often referred to as the Palestinian territories, or as "Ha-Shtachim" (The Territories) or Yesha —an acronym for YEhuda, SHomron, v'Aza ("and Gaza"), the Hebrew names of the territories. Both of these territories were part of former British Mandate of Palestine, and both have populations consisting primarily of Arab Palestinians, including historic residents of the territories and refugees who lost their homes in the territory that became Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Both were allotted to the proposed Arab state under United Nations Partition Plan of 1947, but the West Bank was captured and occupied by Jordan and the Gaza Strip was captured and occupied by Egypt after the 1948 war. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, but this was recognized only by the United Kingdom. (see 1949 Armistice Agreements, Green Line)

From their occupation in 1967 until 1993, the majority of people living in these territories —those who are not Israeli citizens — were subject to Israeli military administration without Israeli citizenship, including the right to vote in Israeli elections. Israel retained the mukhtar (mayoral) system of government inherited from Jordan, and subsequent governments began developing infrastructure in Arab villages under its control. (see Palestinians and Israeli law, International legal issues of the conflict, Palestinian economy)

Since the Israel-Palestine letters of recognition of 1993, most of the Palestinian population and cities have been under the internal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and only partial Israeli military control, although during periods of unrest and terror attacks, Israel has on several occasions redeployed its troops and reinstated full military administration in various parts of the two territories.

In 2000 The Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier in response to, and as a preventative measure against, increasing terror attacks as part of the Al Aqsa Intifada.

In 2005, Israel forcibly removed all of the Jewish residents in the Gaza Strip and in four settlements in the northern West Bank as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.

In 2006, following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, from an army base in the south of Israel, and after over 1,300 Qassam rockets were fired into Israeli territories, the IDF has once again taken control over the northern area of Gaza. The operation has not resulted in Gilad Shalit's safe return, or in ceasing of Qassam launches, however the IDF reports many terrorists killed during the operation. During the operation, Several dozen or possibly even hundreds of civilians have been killed and Gaza's infrastructure has been badly damaged as a result of the operation directed at the terrorists.

In 2007, after some serious clashes between Palestinian factions in Gaza, Israel was attacked by rockets aimed at the Israeli city of Sederot and other border towns near the Gaza strip. These attacks have killed at least two people on the Israeli side and many more in the Gaza strip from retaliatory Israeli strikes.

Israel has threatened to send ground troops into the strip if the rocket barrages do not cease, while the Hamas has threatened to extend the range of the current attacks if the Israeli army enters the strip.

East Jerusalem

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

While East Jerusalem is considered by many to be part of the West Bank, it is treated separately in negotiations. The 1947 UN Partition Plan had contemplated that all of Jerusalem would be an international city, but Jordan captured East Jerusalem and the Old City, and Israel captured and annexed West Jerusalem in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Jordan annexed East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank in 1950, but no nations gave de jure recognition to this annexation . Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and in 1980 the Israeli Knesset passed the "Jerusalem Law" annexing East Jerusalem and offering its residents citizenship, but the non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 has declared this action to be in violation of international law.

There is little international support for Israel's position that Jerusalem is its undivided capital. As of 19th May 2007 no country has their embassy located in Jerusalem, instead choosing to locate in Tel Aviv. The 2007 Jerusalem Day celebrations were not attended by either US or EU ministers.

The Golan Heights

The Golan Heights were captured from Syria near the end of the Six Day War, after the cease fire with Egypt and Jordan had been agreed upon.

Israel passed the "Golan Heights Law" in 1981, extending its laws and jurisdicions to the territory and according Israeli citizenship to the resident population. Israel has, however, avoided using the term "annexation" to this action. The UN Security Council rejected the provisions of this law with the non-binding Resolution 497.

The status of the Golan Heights, and of the Israeli settlements established there, is seen as one of the issues preventing the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and Syria.

Applicability of the term "occupied"

See article Status of territories captured by Israel

See article International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

A temporary wall along the route of the forthcoming West Bank Barrier

The United Nations Security Council (in Resolution 446, Resolution 465 and Resolution 484, among others), the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have each resolved that the territories discussed in this article are occupied and that the Fourth Geneva Convention provisions regarding occupied territories apply. In its decision on the separation barrier, the International Court of Justice ruled that the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem are occupied.

The Government of Israel in its public statements and many of Israel's citizens and supporters dispute that the territories are occupied and claim that use of the term "occupied" in relation to Israel's control of the areas has no basis in international law or history, and that it prejudges the outcome of any future or ongoing negotiations. They argue it is more accurate to refer to the territories as "disputed" rather than "occupied" although they agree to apply the humanitarian provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention pending resolution of the dispute.

However, in recent decades the government of Israel has argued before the Supreme Court of Israel that its authority in the territories is based on the international law of "belligerent occupation", in particular the Hague Conventions. The court has confirmed this interpretation many times, for example in its 2004 and 2005 rulings on the separation fence. According to the BBC, "Israel argues that the international conventions relating to occupied land do not apply to the Palestinian territories because they were not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state in the first place."

Soon after the 1967 war, Israel issued a military order stating that the Geneva Conventions applied to the recently-occupied territories [2], but this order was rescinded a few months later [3]. Since then, Israel has argued on various grounds that the Geneva Conventions do not apply. One is that the Geneva Conventions apply only to the sovereign territory of a High Contracting Party, and therefore the Conventions do not apply since Jordan never exercised sovereignty over the region [4] (pdf). The interpretation of the International Court of Justice does not support this view. The Supreme Court of Israel has several times acknowledged the existence of this debate but has so far declined to make a definitive ruling on it.

The Israeli Supreme Court has argued that the Geneva Convention insofar it is not supported by domestic legislation "does not bind this Court, its enforcement being a matter for the states which are parties to the Convention". They ruled that "Conventional international law does not become part of Israeli law through automatic incorporation, but only if it is adopted or combined with Israeli law by enactment of primary or subsidiary legislation from which it derives its force" [5] (pdf). Al Haq, a West Bank affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, has asserted that "As noted in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 'a party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty'. As such, Israeli reliance on local law does not justify its violations of its international legal obligations".[6] Further, the Palestinian mission to the U.N. has argued

it is of no relevance whether a State has a monist or a dualist approach to the incorporation of international law into domestic law. A position dependent upon such considerations contradicts Article 18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969 which states that: "a state is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purposes of a treaty when it has undertaken an act expressing its consent thereto." The Treaty, which is substantially a codification of customary international law, also provides that a State "may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty" (Art. 27).[7]

Arab Palestinians and Israeli law

Unlike Israeli Arabs, the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not citizens of Israel, and are not afforded the same political rights and freedoms or protections under Israeli law as Israeli citizens who live in the same areas. This includes restraints on freedom of movement, no right to vote in Israel, although they can vote for candidates in the Palestinian National Authority (the 2005 presidential election), enjoy access to its judicial system and are allowed to issue appeals to the Supreme Court of Israel. Residents of East Jerusalem are Israeli nationals, and can get Israeli citizenship. Residents of the Golan Heights are permanent residents of Israel, and can get Israeli citizenship.

See also

• Arab-Israeli conflict
• International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Palestinian territories
• Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt
• Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan

Other external links

• "Israeli Water Interests in the Occupied Territories", from Security for Peace: Israel's Minimal Security Requirements in Negotiations with the Palestinians, by Ze'ev Schiff, 1989. Retrieved October 8, 2005.