What About International Law

7/29/2019 What About International Law

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Sivan 17, 5772, 6/7/2012

Reply to comment:"What about international law?"

I wanted to respond to this comment on the Israelity! blog, but I got carried away. So I am

posting this as a separate posting. I will add on to this article as necessary based on the questions

and comments I receive, rather than post my responses in the comment section. Please feel free

to use any of this material.

Here is the comment I received:

6.What about international law?

Did you ever stop to think thatsettlements built in violation of international law should not be allowedto stand? What gives you the right to steal Palestinian land for your settlements?

Michael Neal, Geneva, Switz. (6/6/12)

Heres my response. Im sorry its so long, but thats how propaganda succeeds Someone

makes a short comment thats a blatant lie, the damage is done, and then you must spend a lot of

time undoing the damage by presenting facts. Difficult to do when the whole world is ADD!

Michael, when was this land Palestinian (Arab) land? How and when did it become Palestinian Arabland? By what act of international law was legal title transferred from the Jewish People to thesePalestinian Arabs?

Oh, and one more question just for laughs: If Palestine/Land of Israel rightfully belongs to the Arabs,

why does the United Nations (UNWRA) have special criteria for defining an Arab refugee of the Israel

Arab War as: "people whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a

result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict."

Funny how the definition of someone with ancient historic rights "from time immemorial" comes

down to a 23-month period in 1946-1948!

If you are concerned about International Law, Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank) belongs to the"Jewish National Home in Palestine" which under definition of international law is what we call today

the State of Israel.

The only country of Palestine that everexisted was a Mandated country of Palestine from April 1920to May 1948. This country called Palestine was created as a Jewish country with protection of
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religious and civil rights for the non-Jewish inhabitants.

What International law are you citing?

Palestine is historically a general territory that was under foreign occupation since the time of theRomans. The Romans forcibly exiled the Jews who never gave up claim to the land. Its ironic that the

Romans did this, because in modern international law, this would be considered a war crime, crimeagainst humanity, and would be prosecutable at the InternationalCriminalcourt, as defined in the

Rome Statutes!

Throughout history, whenever Jews were oppressed in host countries, Jews have always tried to return

home to the Land of Israel. However, the land had been mostly uninhabitable for the past twomillennia. The land comprised swamps filled with malaria infested mosquitoes, desert, and rocky

terrain.

The total population had dropped from around 2-million mostly Jewish inhabitants at the time of theRoman conquest to around 270-thousand by the period of the rise of Islam. That number was pretty

constant until the 1800s. During all of this history there was a Jewish presence in the Land of Israel.Conditions started to improve in the 19th century and Zionists (and pre-Zionist) Jews began returning

to the land in groups to build the land and an economy. Arabs came to work for the Jews who were

paying a living wagesomething that did not exist previously. Also, better healthcare also contributed

to the increase in population.

After World War I, the victorious Principal Allied Powers, who defeated the Ottoman-Turkish Empire,

were now the owners of the Middle East. The Ottoman-Turkish Empire had been the Sovereign rulersof the Middle East, including the territory of Palestine, for almost 500 years.

The victorious allies made a bold decision not to keep the territories they captured for their own

benefit, but rather set up independent countries, ruled by their native/indigenous populations. In 1919at the Paris Peace Conference, it was agreed that Palestine would be created as a reconstitution of the

Jewish commonwealth. Support for this agreement was signed by Emir Feisal I who represented the

Arabs at the Peace conference. An Arab country in Palestine was not considered, because the territorywas not considered Arab.

It was also understood that if all these lands were turned over to their indigenous populations, therewould be chaos and civil war. As a result, a big brother system for setting up countries was adopted.

This was called the Mandates system. The Mandates system was incorporated as International law as

Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations (later reaffirmed as law under Article 80 of the

U.N. Charter).

In April 1920 at the San Remo Peace Conference, three Middle East Mandates were adopted that

created four countries: The Mandate for Syria, which created Syria and Lebanon as two separate

countries, The Mandate for Mesopotamia which created Iraq, and the Mandate for Palestine, whichcreated a Jewish country that would eventually change its name to the State of Israel.

These four countries were all created under international law as Mandated countries on April 24,1920, even though the boundaries that had been discussed in detail not been officially mapped.
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The boundaries were officially mapped in accordance with the San Remo Resolution and the threeMandates in December 1920 as the Franco-British Boundary Convention. According to those borders,

all Judea and Samaria, all Jerusalem, all the Gaza Strip, and well yes, all of what would later be called

Trans-Jordan were part of the Jewish State. Each of the Mandates contained an Article prohibiting the

ceding/partitioning of territory (see Article 5 of the Mandate for Palestine).

Therefore, under international law, these territories belong to the Jewish State. The right to theseterritories is based on the recognition of the to the historical connection of the Jewish people withPalestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country. In other words, the

legal rights of the Jewish People to all Palestine was not a modern invention but based on the historical

national rights of the Jewish People.

In November 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution recommending the partition of

Palestine into two separate states. This partition plan violated the Mandate for Palestine as well as

Article 80 of the U.N. charter. The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled in the caseregarding South Africas attempt to annex Namibia that the Mandates are law, may not be violated, and

the U.N. General Assembly may only make changes to Mandates as authorized in the Mandate

documents (the General Assembly was given the authority to act in the capacity of the League ofNations Permanent Mandates Commission).

Furthermore, since the partition plan was a General Assembly resolution, it is not international law.The General Assembly does not make laws, create countries, or alter the Mandates. Only the Security

Council can make legally binding resolutions.

When the British abandoned the Mandate for Palestine, the newly independent Jewish State wasattacked by its Arab neighbors. When the dust settled, Trans Jordan had occupied half of Jerusalem as

well as Judea and Samaria, and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip.

An armistice agreement with Trans-Jordan was signed in 1949. According to this agreement (article 2),the armistice agreement did not affect any legal claims of the parties, therefore the cease fire lines were

not considered a border. It specifically is stated that the agreement was strictly out of military

consideration. That armistice line is what is referred to as the Green line or thepre-1967 borders.

Once again, the only legal boundaries that determine the borders of Israel are those of the 1920

Franco-British Boundary Convention.

In answer to the question of whether the building of settlements is illegal under Article 49 of the 4th

Geneva Convention (and whether the convention really prohibits the population of an occupier to build

homes in occupied territory) is irrelevant.

Why?

Becauseyou will have one heck of a tough time establishing that Israel is occupying anyones

territory other than its own legally sovereign territory!

Funny, no one ever asks, How did you establish that Israel is occupying Judea/Samaria (W. Bank)?

Occupation is defined by the 1907 Hague Regulations as :


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SECTION IIIMILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE

(Israelity! bold added to stress the term territory of This indicates that the territory must be the legalterritory ofthe People/Nation being occupied. If that is not clear, please continue reading.)

Art. 42. Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostilearmy.

The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be

exercised.

Art. 43. The authority of thelegitimate power(Israelity! bold face added ) having in fact passed into

the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as

far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in forcein the country.

So, if the first heading did not make it clear, certainly article 43 makes it quite clear when it states, ifthe power being replaced in the occupied territory was not the legitimate authority, then there is nooccupation.

And, we have established that under international law, the territory belongs to Israel.

How do you occupy your own territory?

Now, when you ask, What about international law, what else do you want to know?

Go for it! Bring me to the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court.

I dare anyone to drag me there on charges of violating the 1949 4th Geneva Convention or the Rome

Statutes

I am not a lawyer, but hell, I know darn well what authentic International Law says about my legalrights to my homeland. I wont be conned by Arab/anti-Israel propagandists.

Why do you think the tours and presentations being given to world leaders by people like DavidHaivri and Gershon Mesika is so effective? Because when facts are presented, the lies of the Arab

propagandists disintegrate.

Why do you think my old friend Dr. Saeb Erekat (Palestinian Authority Chief Negotiator) can callDanny Ayalon a liar in the media, but refuse to debate him face to face in a public forum? Ayalon is

right. Erekat is good at calling people names and attacking little old ladies when they have their backs

turned, but he turns chicken when someone who knows what he is talking about is tough enough to

stand up to him,

The problem is that Israels Government is so busy walking on egg shells, that opportunists (oops, I

meant to write leaders not opportunists) like Netanyahu who already know everything I just wroteabout International Law and occupation, and they used to say everything I just wrote. We have all


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heard Netanyahu say on CNN, Its disputed territory; not occupied territory. Suddenly, when he

becomes Prime Minister, he is too timid and weak to defend Israel when certain family members, likeour beloved Uncle Sam might not approve.

Israel needs a little perspective: Americans will stand by Israel. Israels real friends will stand by

Israel. Remember, Obama is just a passing fad. He will soon go disappear from the scene. However,our legal right to our inheritance is eternal. The Land of Israel is eternal.

The one good thing I see in the Governments decision in dealing with the Ulpana neighborhood is thata message has been sent to the treasonous folks at Peace Now. The Kapo now understands that if

you try to strike at the Jewish National Home by abusing the court system, we will build more.

Certainly I do not approve of tearing down the buildings in Beit El , but it is a small consolation, andboy is Peace Now upset!

_______________________________

Another addition...

June 8, 2012

3:00 AM

Response to:

2.Israel ignores security Council resolutions

Israel has ignored UN resolutions, like Res 242, which is asecurity council resolution, and so they are

ignoring international law. Res 242 requires Israel to withdraw from the West Bank. It's nice to be ableto choose what international law is most convenient.

Corey, Des Moines, IA (7/6/12)

To understand UN Security Council Resolution 242 as far as international law, is a whole long blog

in itself.

Resolution 242 does not require Israel to unilaterally withdraw to the pre-1967 Armistice line. The

basic requirement of Resolution 242 is for the countries that were involved in the conflict to sit down

and negotiate safe secure borders and end hostilities.

The fact that negotiating a just and lasting peace is the basis of the resolution means that even though

the resolution is a Security Council resolution, it is not a legally enforceable resolution underinternational law. You cannot force parties to negotiate a peaceful settlement. Resolution 242 is not the

same type of resolution as the one that authorized the use of force against Iraq to force Sadaam

Hussein to end Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. The resolution regarding Iraq was under Chapter 7 of theUN charter that cites a threat to the peace. In such a case, force or sanctions may be used to achieve

compliance.


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Here are some of the main points of Resolution 242:

* Inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.

Israel did not acquire Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip through an act of war. Theseterritories were already legally sovereign Israeli territory as per the 1920 Franco-British Boundary

Convention which were the borders for the Mandate for Palestine. The Golan Heights was illegallyremoved from Jewish Palestine in two separate stages by the French and British. According to allagreements of the Principal Allied Powers, the entire Golan should have been part of Mandated

Palestine.

Even with the Golan having been illegally removed from Mandated Palestine, since Syria used theGolan as a launching ground for hostilities (as did Egypt and Jordan from territories they lost in 1967),

Israel had the inalienable right of self defense, including the right to retain any territory that was used

in by the enemy as a launching ground for their attacks. It is not logical to require a country to returncontrol of territory captured in a defensive war, otherwise there would be no deterrent for war. The

Kellogg Briand Pact (1928) only outlawed a policy of aggression, not a policy of self defense. Self

defense is not an act of aggression.

* Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the

sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their

right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.

Israel and her neighbors involved in the 1967 War have ended their belligerency (other than Syria), and

respect Israel's territorial integrity and vice versa. Israel gave the Sinai to Egypt, Egypt ended theiroccupation of Gaza. Jordan gave up its claim to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, and Israel allowed

Jordan to keep farm land owned by Jews east of the Jordan River, with an agreement to allow the

Israeli farmers access to the land and protection. Israel withdrew from some areas of the Golan and

turned them over to Syria, and UN peace keeping troops have maintained the peace on the border.

Israel and her neighbors have already fulfilled the requirements of Resolution 242, with the exception

of on the Syrian front, which has only been partially fulfilled. There was no Palestinian Arab countryinvolved in the 1967 war, the Arabs who are calling themselves Palestinians today are not an entity

involved in Resolution 242.

* Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.

The withdrawal of armed forces from territories reconstituted to Israel in 1967 can only be possible

with an end of the violence perpetrated by the Arab population in these territories.

In Jerusalem, armed forces have been removed, and throughout Judea and Samaria, armed forces have

been removed in many areas.

According to the drafters of the resolution, there was no intent to require Israel to withdraw from "all

the territory or even "the" territory. It was purposely left vague in order to be open for negotiation.

The British Foreign Secretary during the period of the 1967 war, George Brown, said in January 1970,

"I formulated the Security Council resolution. Before we submitted it to the Council we showed


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it to the Arab leaders. The proposal said Israel will withdraw from territories that were occupied

and not from the territory, which means that Israel will not withdraw from all the territories."

British Ambassador to the UN Lord Caradon stated in 1974 (Beirut Daily Star, on June 12, 1974), "It

would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967 because

those positions were undesirable and artificial. After all, they were just the places where the

soldiers of each side happened to be on the day the fighting stopped in 1948. They were justarmistice lines. That is why we did not demand that the Israelis return to them."

* Guaranteeing freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area.

* A just settlement of the refugee problem.

* Guaranteeing the territorial inviolability and political independence of every State in the area,

through measures including the establishment of demilitarized zones;

* Request that the Secretary General to designate a Special Representative to proceed to the

Middle East to establish and maintain contacts with the States concerned.

Obviously the refugee issue is yet to be settled, but most of Resolution 242 has been fulfilled.

The Arabs calling themselves Palestinians are not in the equation, they were not a state involved in thewar. Jordan, Egypt, and Syria were.

Resolution 242 cannot require Israel to give up any territory that was part of the Jewish National Home

under the Mandate for Palestine. That would violate the legal rights of the Jewish People underinternational law. Any Security Council resolution that violates international law is certainly

unenforceable.

For more information read Howard Grief's Essay:ACPR Policy Paper No. 173,SECURITY COUNCILRESOLUTION 242:A VIOLATION OF LAW AND A PATHWAY TO DISASTER

________________________________

June 10, 2012

7:35 AM Jersualem time

Another reply to a comment about the vague term "Jewish National Home" (This will be the last

one. This post is already almost a book!)

Here's the comment:

The information about San Remo probably makes your point. However, the British under Balfour andthe League of Nations mandate only promised respect and protection of/for a 'Jewish National Home.'

That is not a state, and could imply a binational state, by default. The more relevant point, I think, is

that once the British tore the new state of Jordan away from the territory of the Mandate, they violate
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all agreements and were not sanctioned in any way.

Larry, Margaliot (8/6/12)

Here's my reply:

The Mandate for Palestine was a Mandate under the Mandates System. Mandates served only onepurpose: To safely set up countries that had been previously under the rule of the German or OttomanTurkish Empires.

The 1917 Balfour Declaration was a statement of British foreign policy, supporting the establishment

of a Jewish country in Palestine. The wording seems a little ambiguous. This is not the fault of theBritish, but rather of the Zionists.

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home

for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this

object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and

religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status

enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

The Balfour Declaration merely stated that the British would do their best to help create this JewishState.

The vague term that has given much fuel for the anti-Zionist fire is the statement, the establishment in

Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. What is meant by a national home, a country or a

country club?

As I stated above, the ambiguity of the term national home was not the fault of the British. Lord

Balfour had asked Chaim Weitzmann to draft the resolution, and Weitzmann gave the task to a team


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headed by Zionist writer Nachum Sokolow.

Sokolow had attended the 1st Zionist Congress (in 1897) in Basel, Switzerland. At that time, the

Zionists understood the delicate situation in dealing with the Ottoman-Turkish leaders. The OttomanEmpire was falling apart, and the Ottomans would not be very receptive to losing Palestine. At that

time not enough Jews had yet returned to Eretz Yisrael to set up the country.

What the Zionist needed at the time was permission to buy land and build settlements. So thedeclaration at Basel delicately walked around the issue of a country and merely called for a home for

the Jews secured by public law.

There is no doubt what Thodore Herzzl meant in the declaration. Herzl wrote in his journal that night:

At Basel I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say this today, I would be greeted by universal

laughter. In five years, perhaps, and certainly in 50, everyone will see it.

When Sokolow was asked to draft the Balfour declaration, he was also afraid the British would not

agree to a Jewish country or state. However, that was precisely what the British didagree to. On

October 31, 1917 in the British War Room, the Jewish country being proposed was discussed. Therewas no doubt that this home was a country.

I am currently transcribing the minutes from the San Remo Conference to upload to the Office for

Israeli Constitutional Law web site. At San Remo the word state was used to describe this JewishNational Home, as in this statement by the French:

Was this new projectedState, however, to have an entirely different administration from other States?

There were deliberations at length about what form of government this Jewish National Home would

have and what the rights of the non-Jewish inhabitants would include. This would not make sense if

the National Home in question was only a cultural center.

Furthermore, there would be no need to establish a Mandate as part of the Smuts Mandate System to

establish a cultural center. The suggestion is almost laughable.

The French did try to later claim that a national home was not a county, and the British put the French

in their place. Then Churchill later claimed that the British never intended to create a Jewish country.

To bad Churchill had not been at San Remo or in the Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917.

As to your suggestion that the Mandate or Balfour declaration might imply a bi-national state the

Jews are the only named recipient in the Mandate for Palestine other than the protection of the civil

and religious rights of the non-Jewish inhabitants. This was also discussed at length at San Remo. Itwas suggested that the protection of civil rights meant the right to vote. Nowhere was there any

discussion about an Arab state in Palestine.

If the term, in Palestine did not mean all Palestine, then in which part of Palestine should non-Jewish

rights be protected? If the Mandate did not create a Jewish country, why would the civil and religious

rights of non-Jews need protecting at all?

When you look at the facts, the anti-Zionist propagandists really have nothing with which to back their


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claims

As far as Trans-Jordan being illegally removed from the Mandate, what would later be called Trans-

Jordan was protected as Jewish territory under Art. 5, 6, 15, and 25 of the Mandate.

Tags:Judea and Samaria,United Nations,international law,Judea-Samaria,San RemoResolution ,UNWRA ,Mandate for Palestine ,ICJ
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