What makes these Jewish settlements illegal ?

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kismet

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal both under international law and the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. Claims to the contrary are mere attempts to distort the law for political purposes. Yet whatever the status of the settlements, their existence should never be used to justify terrorism.

The Palestinians often claim that settlement activity is illegal and call on Israel to dismantle every settlement. In effect, they are demanding that every Jew leave the West Bank, a form of ethnic cleansing. By contrast, within Israel, Arabs and Jews live side-by-side; indeed, Israeli Arabs, who account for approximately 20% of Israel's population, are citizens of Israel with equal rights.

The Palestinian call to remove all Jewish presence from the disputed territories is not only discriminatory and morally reprehensible; it has no basis either in law or in the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

The various agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians since 1993 contain no prohibitions on the building or expansion of settlements. On the contrary, they specifically provide that the issue of settlements is reserved for permanent status negotiations, which are to take place in the concluding stage of the peace talks. The parties expressly agreed that the Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction or control over settlements or Israelis, pending the conclusion of a permanent status agreement.

It has been charged that the provision contained in the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement prohibiting unilateral steps that alter the status of the West Bank implies a ban on settlement activity. This position is disingenuous. The prohibition on unilateral measures was designed to ensure that neither side take steps that would change the legal status of this territory (such as by annexation or a unilateral declaration of statehood), pending the outcome of permanent status talks. The building of homes has no effect on the final permanent status of the area as a whole. Were this prohibition to be applied to building, it would lead to the unreasonable interpretation that neither side is permitted to build houses to accommodate the needs of their respective communities.

As the Israeli claim to these territories is legally valid, it is just as legitimate for Israelis to build their communities as it is for the Palestinians to build theirs. Yet in the spirit of compromise, successive Israeli governments have indicated their willingness to negotiate the issue and have adopted a voluntary freeze on the building of new settlements as a confidence-building measure.

Furthermore, Israel had established its settlements in the West Bank in accordance with international law. Attempts have been made to claim that the settlements violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which forbids a state from deporting or transferring "parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." However, this allegation has no validity in law as Israeli citizens were neither deported nor transferred to the territories.

Although Israel has voluntarily taken upon itself the obligation to uphold the humanitarian provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel maintains that the Convention (which deals with occupied territories) was not applicable to the disputed territory. As there had been no internationally recognized legal sovereign in either the West Bank or Gaza prior to the 1967 Six Day War, they cannot be considered to have become "occupied territory" when control passed into the hands of Israel.

Yet even if the Fourth Geneva Convention were to apply to the territories, Article 49 would not be relevant to the issue of Jewish settlements. The Convention was drafted immediately following the Second World War, against the background of the massive forced population transfers that occurred during that period. As the International Red Cross' authoritative commentary to the Convention confirms, Article 49 (entitled "Deportations, Transfers, Evacuations") was intended to prevent the forcible transfer of civilians, thereby protecting the local population from displacement. Israel has not forcibly transferred its citizens to the territory and the Convention does not place any prohibition on individuals voluntarily choosing their place of residence. Moreover, the settlements are not intended to displace Arab inhabitants, nor do they do so in practice. According to independent surveys, the built-up areas of the settlements (not including roads or unpopulated adjacent tracts) take up about 3% of the total territory of the West Bank.

Israel's use of land for settlements conforms to all rules and norms of international law. Privately owned lands are not requisitioned for the establishment of settlements. In addition, all settlement activity comes under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Israel.

tlkr_11

They are not illegal. I'll start with land that was legally purchased from Arabs. It is perfectly legal to buy land from the person who owns it, and when the UN/Arab states say it is illegal they are lying.

Onto the 'settlements.' These are not tiny villages comprised of a few tents. They are thriving towns and cities.

Al Jazeera interviewed Professor Mordechai Kedar of Bar-Ilan University, and he was asked about Israel building in the West Bank. This is what he said: "The West bank does not belong to any nation because it was not under a nation's jurisdiction, unlike the Sinai Peninsula. From what country did we take it? Until 1967, Jordan occupied it. Therefore, we can do what we want."

When Jordan was in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem before 1967, they were building there. Nobody complained. When the Jordanians banned Jews from visiting the Western Wall, the UN did not force them to stop.

When Jordan was in charge, they did what the liked, because they controlled the area. Now Israel controls the area and can do the same. There has been a Jewish presence in the area for thousands of years, long before the Arabs moved in.

Under Arab control, the standards of living were lower, there was less infrastructure, less security, and Jerusalem was not an open city. Israel has built towns and cities where there once was nothing. Israel has built roads, schools, infrastructure. Israel maintains law and order.

Now I'd be happy to relinquish the Arab parts of the West Bank, while keeping the Jewish parts, in a peace agreement, however, Israel's security has got to be the priority.

lrc23

I am british and believe jews have every right to be in jerusalem and i fully support peace on all sides

samsoomathemadruba

Check international law regarding land won in war, they are 100% legal.

Sabrina

NOTHING!
Nothing makes it illegal!
People just find reasons to h8 jews with no real reasons whatsoever!!
I'm so sick and tired of all this brainwashing that is going on whith making ppl think that we "stole" the land and we are making an "occupation"...BS!

Arieh

The ones that were purchased from absentee Arab landlords are not illegal, but they still need a permit to build anything on the land. The land that was "appropriated" is illegal, but that doesn't stop the religious zealots from building on it. This is a quagmire to the Israeli government who doesn't want to be seen as weak by either their own populous nor by the Palestinians.

dandyl

They are not ilegal.Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria â€” the West Bank â€” since ancient times. The only time Jews have been prohibited from living in the territories in recent decades was during Jordan's rule from 1948 to 1967. This prohibition was contrary to the Mandate for Palestine adopted by the League of Nations, which provided for the establishment of a Jewish state, and specifically encouraged â€œclose settlement by Jews on the land.â€

Numerous legal authorities dispute the charge that settlements are â€œillegal.â€ Stephen Schwebel, formerly President of the International Court of Justice, notes that a country acting in self-defense may seize and occupy territory when necessary to protect itself. Schwebel also observes that a state may require, as a condition for its withdrawal, security measures designed to ensure its citizens are not menaced again from that territory.

According to Eugene Rostow, a former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Johnson Administration, Resolution 242 gives Israel a legal right to be in the West Bank. The resolution. Rostow noted, "allows Israel to administer the territories" it won in 1967 "until 'a just and lasting peace in the Middle East' is achieved," Rostow wrote

berkeleyjake

When the large migrations or "aliyah" began in the late 1800s, the migrating Jews purchased land from the current owners of the land(the Ottoman Turks). When the Brittish took over, they tried 3 times to establish a 2 state solution, which, each time was agreed upon by the Jewish people living in the mandate formerly called Palestine, and rejected by all the arab nations who refused to accept it. When the British left and gave up their mandate, the Jewish people living there had planned and announced their independence creating the Jewish state of Israel. Now what is interesting is the Palestinian people did no such thing, they had not organized a government for themselves upon the end of the mandate, they had not drafted any documents for their independence, and they did not make any announcement to the rest of the world about their sovereignty in their land.
The reason for this is that as soon as the British left, the surrounding arab nations invaded and attack the newly formed Israeli state. The Palestinians, were waiting to a all the Jews kicked out before creating their own country. As history shows, this plan failed miserably when Israel won the war(and without American help, yes please look that up, because it's true).
After a few more wars, we snatched up some more land, including the Sinai, the West Bank, and the Golan. The Golan will never be given back with the current state of affairs with Hezbollah and Syrian ties, there is just too much of a strategic advantage in that area. Sinai was given back to Egypt in exchange for peace. The West Bank was offered to Jordan in exchange for peace, but they renounced claim to the area. This is when the large part of the palestinian resistance began. They were cut off from any political assets so their only alternative was violence. Israel then set up military outposts throughout the West Bank, and yes it was an occupation, to quell the remaining militant factors. And with what has been the case with American military bases set up in occupying countries they occupied around the end of WWII, large American communities sprang up there. As with Israel, communities formed around the military outposts in the West Bank. I really think it's just the fault of the Palestinian people in the west bank for waiting so long to try to achieve peace. Had it been done sooner, there wouldn't have been as much expansion around the bases, and therefore harder to pull out.
There needs to be a 2 state solution, but because of all the time it has taken for the Palestinians to accept the possibility of a 2 state solution, it will take longer to negotiate what the new borders will be and how many settlements will have to be removed.

wolinskyb

The ones in Gaza were either purchased from Arabs, or built on empty wasteland. But a lot of them were built on empty land without asking the local authorities for building permission.

BTW, the Jews have absolutely no biblical claim to the Gaza strip.

Rich N

Yes the Israeli settlements are illegal because they are built on other people land.
The settlements are built on occupied territories and according to international law they are illegal.

Divine Creation

LOL!!! They never "bought" anything, they robbed all of that land.

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http://mythsandfacts.com/

^ PaLo ^

Israel currently has 121 Jewish-only settlements and 106 â€˜outpostsâ€™ on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians do not have any settlements on Israeli land.

Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, and is reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the Apartheid regime in South Africa.

Under this regime, Israel has stolen hundreds of thousands of dunam of land from the Palestinians. Israel has used this land to establish dozens of settlements in the West Bank and to populate them with hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens. Israel prohibits the Palestinians as a group from entering and using these lands, and uses the settlements to justify numerous violations of the Palestiniansâ€™ human rights, such as the right to housing, to earn a livelihood, and the right to freedom of movement. The drastic change that Israel has made in the map of the West Bank prevents any real possibility for the establishment of an independent, viable Palestinian state as part of the Palestiniansâ€™ right to self-determination

marry w

Anything is taking by force including time of wars is illegal according to the UN and international law.
No nation in the world is willing to recognize the Israeli settlements as an Israeli territories most call it the occupied territories.

Occupying other people by force is losing policy in the past and now and has no future.

Beautiful Sunset

Because the UN specifies which areas are not meant to be harmed by the jew army .
Because it's illegal to suggest that the deeds the Palestinians have cannot be compared by an "imaginary" deed from the jew God, (which is a wall, actually).
At least the Jews could let them take with them their stuff.
I wonder how the Jews can sleep on a bed that its previous owner used to sleep for many years. Or drink from glasses, or use plates, forks, knives that someone else bought!
Europe during the Middle Ages was much more civilized than Israel.
bye bye

Will Smith

The whole state of Israel is illegal, and won't last for a long time.

dustee

Jewa have been persicuted forever and it will never stop. Jesus preached the Hebrew faith tio people and he was killed for it by the Romans who believed in statues only. Just be proud of what you are and dont let things like that bother you

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