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By Alan Baker. For more information
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International law defines
“occupation” as one power occupying the lands of a foreign sovereign. In
Israel’s case, Israel is not occupying any foreign sovereign’s land; Israel
entered the area known as the West Bank in 1967 and took over the authority to
administer the land from Jordan, which was never considered to be a sovereign
in the area.
In actual fact, Israel and the
Jewish people have got claims to the area that go far back into history.
Anybody who reads the Bible can appreciate the fact that there is a very solid
historic legal basis to the claim of Israel with respect to the territories and
therefore Israel considers the territories not to be occupied, not to be
Palestinian, but as in dispute.
We appreciate that the Palestinians
also have claims with respect to the territory. Israel considers that its
claims are far better based and better documented than any other claims, but
Israel is committed to conduct negotiations with the Palestinians in order to
find a permanent settlement to the issue.
The Jordanians, who occupied the
territory after the 1948 war, annexed it, but this annexation was never really
recognized or acknowledged by the international community. At a later stage the
king of Jordan voluntarily gave up any Jordanian sovereignty or claim to the
territories to the Palestinian people. So the Jordanians came and went, and the
issue remains an issue between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
“Palestinian Territories” is Not a Legal Term
The international community’s
constant referral to the “Palestinian territories” is a complete fallacy and
has absolutely no legal or political basis. There has never been a Palestinian
state, as such, and therefore the territories never belonged to any Palestinian
entity. There’s no international agreement, there’s no contract, there’s no
treaty, and there’s no binding international resolution that determines that
the territories belong to the Palestinians.
In actual fact, even the
Palestinians themselves, in the Oslo agreement that they signed with Israel,
acknowledge the fact that the ultimate permanent status of the territory is to
be determined by negotiations. Therefore, even the Palestinians accept the fact
that this is not Palestinian territory, its disputed territory whose status is
yet to be settled.
If the local population owns land,
then the administrative power isn’t allowed to take the land or use it. But if
the land is not private, the administering power can use the land and enjoy the
fruits of the land until sovereignty has been finally determined. So Israel
justifiably can use land which is not private land, which is public land, for
establishing settlements as long as these settlements don’t take away the
private rights of the local population. Therefore, in our opinion, the
settlements are not illegitimate.
The Settlements are Not Illegitimate
There’s one other point. The issue
of settlements is a negotiating issue. The Palestinians have agreed with the
Israelis that the issue of settlements is one of the issues on the permanent
status negotiating table. Therefore, anybody who comes along and claims that
Israel’s settlements are illegitimate – whether it’s the EU, whether it’s
individual governments, whether it is the secretary of state of the United
States, who said so specifically, or the spokesman of the State Department –
they’re prejudging a negotiating issue, which is clearly incompatible with any
negotiating principle.
These are issues that have to be
negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians. Therefore, nobody can claim
that the settlements are illegitimate or that they’re illegal, as such. They
have to be negotiated between the parties.
There’s No Such Thing as 1967 Borders
There’s no such thing as 1967
borders. A border is a line between two sovereign entities. In 1967, there was
a ceasefire line that had existed since the 1948-1949 war between the Arab
states and Israel and after Israel declared its independence. The Jordanians
insisted on inserting in the Armistice Agreement of 1949 a provision which says
that the armistice demarcation line is not the final border. Final borders can
only be determined in peace negotiations between the parties. So “1967 borders”
is a non-existent term and anybody using this term – again, including the U.S.
administration and the EU – are simply being misled.
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