By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 24, 2004
Judea and Samaria legally belong to Israel and the Jewish people under international law, and to suggest otherwise endangers Israel’s claim to any other part of its biblical homeland, International Law Prof. Talia Einhorn told Arutz 7 Tuesday.
Einhorn said that Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are all incorrectly categorized by the world community as “occupied,” when in reality they are “disputed” territories, because prior to Israel’s liberation of those areas in 1967, no sovereign power legally controlled them.
Even the label “disputed” is dubious, explained Einhorn, noting that the UN’s original British Mandate for Palestine designated those areas as part of the Jewish national home.
She attacked Attorney General Baruch Mazuz’s recommendation this week that the Sharon government officially apply the Geneval Convention to Judea, Samaria and Gaza, saying that doing so would mark the end of the Jews’ claim to these areas.
Legal claim
"According to international law, Israel has full right to try to populate the entire Land of Israel with dense Jewish settlement, and thus actualize the principles set by the League of Nations in the original Mandate Charter of San Remo in 1920,” wrote Einhorn.
The mandate’s introduction clearly identifies it as being “based on the international recognition of the historic ties between the Jewish People and the Land of Israel.”
Einhorn noted, “Clause II of that mandate charges Britain with 'ensuring the existence of political, administrative, and economic conditions that will guarantee the establishment of the Jewish national home in the Land of Israel.'"
Even the 1947 UN Partition Resolution does not necessitate the creation of an Arab state west of the Jordan River, Einhorn explained, pointing out the often overlooked fact that the “resolution states specifically that it is merely a "recommendation" and nothing more.”
The Arab states’ rejection of the resolution voids the recommendation on any legal basis.
Between 1948 and 1967, Judea and Samaria were illegally held by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and Gaza fell under Egyptian control.
“In 1967, after the Six Day War, these territories - which were originally meant for the Jewish Nation's National Home according to the Mandate Charter - returned to Israeli control.”
"From the standpoint of international law, there is no essential difference between the areas on the two sides of the Green Line," says Einhorn.
She further explained that UN resolutions 242 and 338, which make up the cornerstone of efforts to create “Palestinian” state, fall under Chapter VI of the world body’s charter, meaning they too are mere “recommendations.”
The last legally binding document to be adopted regarding the areas in question remains the 1920 San Remo resolution, which deeds full sovereignty to the Jewish people.
Biblical birthright
The Jewish people further trace their right to the land to the Bible, which records Israel’s original settlement of the area in ca. 1500 BC under God’s direction.
In the pages of what is known as the Torah, the Almighty promises all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a perpetual possession.
Overwhelming archeological evidence attests to millennia of Jewish sovereignty in what is now Israel, the “West Bank”, Gaza and much of Jordan and southern Lebanon.
Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority recently aired an “educational” television program claiming the biblical Hebrews were actually Arabs, that the land was dominated by Islam in biblical times, and that “Canaanite Arabs” built Solomon’s Temple.
Geneva does not apply
The motivation for Einhorn’s written legal argument was Israeli Attorney General Baruch Mazuz’s recommendation this week that the Sharon government officially apply the Geneva Convention to Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
While Israel has always taken pains to fulfill the humanitarian obligations outlined in the convention, officially applying it would mean recognizing those areas as occupied and forfeiting the Jews’ legal and biblical claim.
The Geneva Convention regulates the actions of an occupying power in administering territories over which it has no legal right to sovereignty. But according to international law, Israel has a right to sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Implementing Mazuz’s recommendation would have far-reaching implications, paving the way for the international community to negate Israel’s claim over much of Jerusalem, Einhorn explained.