Adalah to Levy Committee: International Law Does Not Distinguish Between Settlements and Unrecognized Outposts, All Must Be Removed
(Haifa, Israel) On 12 June 2012, Adalah sent a position paper to the Levy Committee, which was established by the Israeli government to consider how to retroactively legalize unrecognized “outposts” in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The government formed the Committee in the wake of Israeli Supreme Court decisions concerning the Ulpana buildings in Beit El and Migron holding that the illegal outposts/settlements must be dismantled.
(Haifa, Israel) On 12 June 2012, Adalah sent a position paper to the Levy Committee, which was established by the Israeli government to consider how to retroactively legalize unrecognized “outposts” in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The government formed the Committee in the wake of Israeli Supreme Court decisions concerning the Ulpana buildings in Beit El and Migron holding that the illegal outposts/settlements must be dismantled.
Adalah Attorney Fatmeh El-‘Ajou, who prepared the position paper, argued that international law unequivocally recognizes that establishment of settlements in occupied territory is illegal, with no distinction between officially-sanctioned settlements and unrecognized outposts.
Adalah stressed that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is occupied territory where the rules of occupation under international humanitarian law apply, including those in the Hague Convention (1907) and the Fourth Geneva Conventions (1949) regarding the rights of civilians in times of armed conflict. The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the transfer of the occupying power’s population into the occupied territory. The prohibition is reiterated in Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which states that, “The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory,” constitutes a war crime. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) reaffirmed the settlements’ illegality in its 2004 legal opinion on the Wall in the West Bank.
Attorney El-‘Ajou emphasized that the expansion of the settlements appears to be an attempt to change the nature of the West Bank, and facts on the ground. These actions contradict the principles of international law regarding occupation, which regard occupation as temporary. The establishment of settlements is contrary to known principles in international law that prohibit the annexation of settlements in occupied territory, because in practice it annexes the land the settlements were built on to the occupying power. In addition, the settlements are exploiting the natural resources of the occupied Palestinian territory, and affecting the demography in the area, and therefore blocking Palestinians’ right to self-determination, a right guaranteed by international law and international human rights conventions.
The establishment of the settlements and their expansion are responsible for many human rights violations of the Palestinians: their right to dignity, to life and personal security, freedom of movement, property, housing, work, health, education, family life, social life and urban development, and all only to maintain the settlements.
Further, the human rights violations have an additional implication: the settlements in the West Bank are creating a situation of apartheid, where Israelis live on Palestinian land outside the borders of Israel, and enjoy the rights given to Israeli citizens, at the expense of the freedom of Palestinians and their ability to access their most basic rights. These two groups, settlers and Palestinians, are governed by two completely different sets of laws and regulations while living in the same territory. This situation violates international law and even Israel’s own Basic Laws.
It is clear under international law that the settlements are illegal in all forms. Attempts to legalize the outposts are meaningless, as recognized settlements are also illegal. Accordingly, the only conclusion that the Levy Committee can arrive at is that there is no way to retroactively legalize the settlements built on private or public land.
For more information:
Adalah Press Release - Adalah to Government and Knesset: Sanctioning Construction on Private Palestinian Land in the West Bank Violates Israeli and National Law 25 May 2012
Association for Civil Rights in Israel Letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Government Ministers, Members of Knesset, 5 June 2012
