
As we are potentially approaching a time when the world must address a Palestinian resolution, it is appropriate to consider possible obstacles. As Australians, our vote at the UN last week calling on Israel to end the occupation, is most unlikely to avoid the obstacle addressed here.
That looming obstacle is the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. We can be assured that the Israel lobby will present it as: how do we contemplate a Palestinian state over land owned by Israelis who will insist on their land not being part of that Palestinian state? What about all the infrastructure that we have invested in? Are you asking us to abandon these assets?
Of course, such is a follow on from what we have constantly heard as the creation of ‘facts on the ground’. Those ‘facts on the ground’ refer to creeping Israeli stealing of Palestinian land, such that it would obviously be unjust for Palestinians to seek to resume jurisdiction of those lands.
Readers may recall Jared Kushner during the first Trump presidency relying on such so-called ‘facts on the ground’ to justify the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In that instance the ‘facts on the ground’ were the settlements in East Jerusalem resulting from the ethnic cleansing that was constantly occurring. Sorry, but such are not ‘facts on the ground’. Here are the facts on the ground.
We start with the 1947 UN Partition Plan calling for the creation of two states. The Partition Plan was accepted by Israel when it was accepted as a member State of the UN.
The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) forbade occupiers from transferring their own populations into occupied territories.
In 1967, following the six-day war, Security Council Resolution 242 made it clear that there was to be no acquisition of territory by Israel consequent upon the war. The same occurred in 1973 following the Yom Kipper War – SC Resolution 338.
It was following the election of the right wing Likud Party in 1977 that settlement expansion increased – from around 4,000 in 1977 to something in the order of 800,000 today, in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In 2004, the ICJ handed down its decision appertaining to the legality of Israel’s controversial separation barrier in the occupied territories – the Wall. The reasoning in that decision made it quite clear that settlements were undoubtedly illegal.
Security Council Resolution 2334 – 23 December 2016 – called for the end of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank. The resolution passed 14-0 with the US abstaining. The vote was taken in the last month of the Obama administration. Relevantly, the resolution included the following:
The Security Council
- Reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace:
- Reiterates its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, …
Ever since then the Israeli government has increased government subsidies for such settlements and provided substantial backing from the army to create same. It is appropriate to add that it is not just the Israeli government which supports the settlers. Crowdfunding site Israel Gives allows US residents to donate millions to settlements in the OPT, apparently with the ability to claim tax deductions on such gifted funds.
Mention should be made of the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ of 19 July last. In summary, and again, relevantly, it found that all settlements in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, with their settlers must be evacuated, and reparations for damage caused must be made. That Advisory Opinion of course went back to the General Assembly of the United Nations, which by its resolution of 18 September adopted the findings of the ICJ and called upon Israel to end its occupation, including by settlers, without delay and within 12 months.
All these facts make it clear that when Israelis engaged in the creation of settlements, they knew that it was contrary to international law. They were prepared to run the risk. Ergo, the world should not be concerned about any prejudice that they might suffer by having to give up the land which they stole and knew that they were stealing from the Palestinian people.
It is a tenet of criminal law – a criminal cannot be allowed to profit from his/her wrongdoing.
So don’t be distracted about justice for the settlers.
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