ISRAELI VIOLATION: HISTORY & THEORY
In 1947 the United Nations hoped to settle the conflict between the Palestinian
people and the Zionists by dividing the land between them. Unfortunately,
they chose a plan which the Palestinians did not agree with, and implemented
it anyways. The plan, described in UN Resolution, divided the land of
Palestine into two sections awarding the Zionists more than 1/2 of the
land (55%) even though their current holdings totalled only about 6%,
and their population was only about 16% of all the people in Palestine.
Plus the plan gave the most fertile farmlands to the Zionists. The plan
was clearly unfair, and the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors rebelled
against the plan, and war broke out.
The Zionists won the fighting, and during the course of the fighting took additional
lands bringing their total holdings to about 75% of the lands of Palestine, which they kept.
Even though this additional land was thus illegally gained in violation
of both the Hague Regulations (1907) and UN Charter (1945) which both
included the basic legal principle that it is illegal to acquire territory
by force, these new boundaries soon became the accepted boundaries of
the new State of Israel in the various peace agreements Israel signed
with its neighbors.
|
ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
- Major Legal Principle Violated -
- 1. Acquisition of Territory by Military Conquest is Illegal
- 2. Occupation (either Legal or Illegal) is Generally Temporary
and Must Never Lead To Sovereignty over Occupied or Conquered Lands
of the Enemy People or Nation.
- As Per International Law -
- UN Charter, article 2, para. 4 (1945) (full
text) (specific article - see below)
- Declaration On Principles Of International Law Concerning
Friendly Relations And Co-Operation Among States In Accordance
With The Charter Of The United Nations (1970), Principle 1 (full
text) (specific article - see below)
- Hague Regulations IV (1907), articles 43 & 55 (full
text) (specific articles - see below)
- Geneva Conventions IV (1949), article 47 & 54 (full
text) (specific articles - see below)
- International Response -
- United Nations -
- International Miscellaneous response -
- Academic Analysis -
|
RELEVANT QUOTES FROM TEXT
-
- UN Charter (1945),
article 2, para. 4:
Article 2. The Organization and its Members,
in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act
in accordance with the following Principles.
- Paragraph 4. All Members shall refrain
in their international relations from the threat or use
of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent
with the Purposes of the United Nations.
|
- Declaration
On Principles Of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations
And Co-Operation Among States In Accordance With The Charter Of
The United Nations (1970), Principle 1:
| PRINCIPLE I: The principle that States
shall refrain in their international relations from the threat
or use of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent
with the purposes of the United Nations. |
- Hague Regulations IV (1907), articles 43 & 55:
| Article 43. The authority of the legitimate
power 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 force
in the country.
Article 55. The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct. |
- Geneva Conventions IV (1949), article 54:
| Article 47. Protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any case or in any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the present Convention by any change introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory.
Article 54. The Occupying Power may not
alter the status of public officials or judges in the occupied
territories, or in any way apply sanctions to or take any
measures of coercion or discrimination against them, should
they abstain from fulfilling their functions for reasons of
conscience. |
|