Israeli-occupied territories

The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and held afterward. These originally included the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the West Bank of the Jordan River, and the Gaza Strip. The territories are often collectively refered to as simply "the Occupied Territories," although this term is also sometimes loosely used to refer to the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, over which Israel and the Palestinian Authority have sporadically negotiated.

Following the capture by Israel of these territories, settlements of Jewish Israelis were established within each of them. The West Bank and the Golan Heights are strategically significant to Israel, in part because they provide a significant portion of Israel's water resources, the former from its underground aquifer and the latter for containing many of the headwaters of the Jordan River. Both of these territories also contain highlands that overlook Israel proper, and provide more readily defensible positions than does Israel's internationally recognized territory. The West Bank also contains many of the most important religious and historic sites of the Land of Israel.

The status of these territories, including the legality of Israeli's policy of encouraging settlement in those areas, whether it is legitimate for Israel to annex portions of them, and whether Israel is legally an occupying power according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, are all highly contested by the Government of Israel and many of its supporters. According to the BBC, "Israel argues that the international conventions relating to occupied land do not apply to the Palestinian territories because they were not under the legitimate sovereignty of any state in the first place." ^[1]

Specific territories

The Sinai Peninsula

Santa Catarina Monastery, Mount Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula is a sparsely populated territory between the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel first captured the Sinai, along with the Gaza Strip, during the 1956 Suez Campaign. Israel's invasion of the Sinai was coordinated with France and the United Kingdom's seizure of the Suez Canal. Pressure from the Soviet Union and the United States forced Israel to withdraw from both the Sinai and Gaza the next year.

After capturing the Sinai in 1967, Israel began establishing settlements along the Gulf of Aqaba, and in the northeast portion, just below the Gaza Strip, with plans to expand one settlement into the city of Yamit with a population of 200,000. ^[2] The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt beginning in 1979 under the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty following the 1978 Camp David Accords. Israel completed its withdrawal, including the dismantlement of its settlements, in 1982. The returned territory included Israel's only oil resources.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Palestinian children in Jenin, West Bank

Jointly often referred to as the Palestinian territories, or as "Ha-Shtachim" (The Territories) or Yesha —an acronym for YEhuda, SHomron, v'Aza ("and Gaza"), the Hebrew names of the territories— by many Israelis. Both of these territories were part of former British Mandate of Palestine, and both have populations consisting primarily of Arab Palestinians, including historic residents of the territories and refugees who lost their homes in the territory that became Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Both were allotted to the proposed Arab state under United Nations Partition Plan of 1947, but the West Bank was captured by Jordan and the Gaza Strip was captured Egypt after the 1948 war. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, but this was recognized only by the United Kingdom. (see 1949 Armistice Agreements, Green Line)

The Mountain Aquifer, from which Israel draws over a third of its fresh water resources, has 83% of its recharge area located in the West Bank.^[3] The portion of the Coastal Aquifer that lies in the Gaza Strip has been overexploited for many years, and its water —Gaza's only significant source of fresh water— has become brackish and of limited use due to infiltration of sea water.

From their capture in 1967 until 1993, the majority of people living in these territories —those who are not Israeli citizens — were subject to Israeli military administration without the benefits of Israeli citizenship: in particular the right to vote in Israeli elections. Israel retained the mukhtar (mayoral) system of government inherited from Jordan, and subsequent governments began developing infrastructure in Arab villages under its control. (see Palestinians and Israeli law, International legal issues of the conflict, Palestinian economy)

Since the Israel-Palestine letters of recognition of 1993, most of the Palestinian population and cities have been under the internal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and only partial Israeli military control although during periods of unrest, Israel has on several occasions redeployed its troops and reinstated full military administration in various parts of the two territories. Israel has in recent years constructed a barrier in the West Bank, separating predominantly Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps from Israel and some of its Israeli settlements. In 2005, Israel forced all settlers to leave the Gaza Strip, demolishing all settlements (save synagogues and the Kutif Bloc's greenhouses, with the former destroyed afterwards by Palestinians) and unilaterally withdrawing its forces from there. (see Gaza Strip barrier)

East Jerusalem

Dome of the Rock, East Jerusalem

While East Jerusalem is considered by many to be part of the West Bank, and it is and has been occasionally treated separately in negotiations. The 1947 UN Partition Plan had contemplated that all of Jerusalem would be an international city, but Israel captured and annexed West Jerusalem and Jordan captured East Jerusalem in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Jordan annexed East Jerusalem along wth the rest of the West Bank in 1950, but no nations gave de jure recognition to this annexation ^[4]. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and in 1980 the Israeli Knesset passed the "Jerusalem Law" annexing East Jerusalem, but United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 has declared this action to be in violation of international law.

The Golan Heights

The Golan Heights were captured from Syria near the end of the Six Day War, after the cease fire with Egypt and Jordan had been agreed upon. The status of the Golan Heights, and of the Israeli settlements established there, is seen as one of the issues preventing the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and Syria.

Israel passed the "Golan Heights Law" in 1981, extending its laws and jurisdicions to the territory and according Israeli citizenship to the resident population. Israel has, however, avoided using the term "annexation" to this action. The UN Security Council rejected the provisions of this law with Resolution 497.

Israeli governments have been reluctant to discuss returning the Golan Heights to Syria as part of a peace deal. Many of the headwaters of the Jordan River, from which Israel draws much of its fresh water resources, lie in the Golan Heights. Also, possession of the Golan Heights is considered strategically important to Israel in terms of defense from Syrian harassment or invasion, particularly given that the Heights had been used to shell the territory below prior to the Six-Day War.

Applicability of the term "occupied"

See article Status of territories captured by Israel

See article International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

File:Palestine occupation33.jpg

The Israeli-constructed West Bank Barrier

The United Nations Security Council (in Resolution 465 and Resolution 484, among others), the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention^[5], and the International Committee of the Red Cross^[6], have each resolved that the territories discussed in this article are occupied and that the Fourth Geneva Convention provisions regarding occupied territories apply. In its decision on the separation barrier, the International Court of Justice ruled that the West Bank is occupied.^[7]

The Government of Israel in its public statements and many of Israel's citizens and supporters dispute that the territories are occupied and claim that use of the term "occupied" in relation to Israel's control of the areas has no basis in international law or history, and that it prejudges the outcome of any future or ongoing negotiations. They argue it is more accurate to refer to the territories as "disputed" rather than "occupied" although they agree to apply the humanitarian provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention pending resolution of the dispute. However, the government of Israel has always argued before the Supreme Court of Israel that its authority in the territories is based on the international law of "belligerent occupation", in particular the Hague Conventions. The court has confirmed this interprettation many times, for example in its 2004 and 2005 rulings on the separation fence. ^[8]^[9]

Palestinians and Israeli law

Unlike Israeli Arabs, the Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not citizens of Israel, and are not afforded the same political rights and freedoms or protections under Israeli law as Israeli citizens who live in the same areas. This includes restraints on freedom of movement, no right to vote in Israel (i.e. in any independent country), and other measures at odds with conditions in Israel and other liberal democracies. Palestinians can, however, vote for candidates in the Palestinian National Authority (the 2005 presidential election), enjoy access to its judicial system and are allowed to issue appeals to the Supreme Court of Israel.

References

^ "The Geneva Convention", Israel and the Palestinians, BBC News
^ The Arab-Israeli Dilemma (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East), Syracuse University Press; 3rd edition (August, 1985 ISBN 0815623402
^ "Geography of Water Resources", Princeton University. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
^ UK recognition of Israel and of Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, House of Commons, April 17, 1950 - scan as PDF file
^ "Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention: Declaration" "Foundation for Middle East Peace" website. Retrieved October 5, 2005
^ "Annexe 2 - Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention: statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross" ICRC website. Retrieved October 5, 2005
^ "Legal Consequence of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" International Court of Justice, July 9, 2004. Retrieved October 4, 2005
^ 2004 Israeli Supreme Court ruling (RTF format)
^ 2005 Israeli Supreme Court ruling
^ "Occupied Territories" to "Disputed Territories" by Dore Gold, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, January 16, 2002. Retrieved September 29, 2005.