By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Sep 07, 2004
An official European Union complaint against Israeli settlement activity Monday misrepresented established international law by claiming Jewish communities on the biblical Jewish lands of Judea, Samaria and Gaza were illegal.
The publicized protest – such demarches are traditionally filed in a more discreet manner – stated that all “settlement construction is in contradiction to international law, undermines the two-state solution, and adversely effects chances for progress in the Middle East Peace Process.”
UN-ratified documents, however, do not support the Europeans’ position.
Israeli officials responded by asking whether or not the EU would be publicly protesting the Palestinian Authorities “deliberate inaction” against the terrorist campaign to murder Jewish men, women and children.
Public protest
The formal protest was lodged with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday over the construction of new housing units in several large Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.
European disapproval of Israel is not uncommon, but is typically expressed behind closed doors so as not to create an international incident with every objection. But the EU chose to make public Monday’s demarche in a press conference after presenting it to Israel.
In addition to calling Jewish settlements illegal, the document insisted Israel had obligated itself to halting settlement growth by accepting the Road Map peace plan.
It ignored the fact that Israel only signed on to the Road Map after attaching a list of reservations to it, which included allowing for natural growth in the settlements, many of which are towns with thousands of residents.
One Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that it was a “shame” that Europe was returning to “megaphone diplomacy” in order to prove it was still a part of the Middle East “peace” process.
Lesson in international law
The premise of the demarche - that Jewish settlement of Judea, Samaria and Gaza is illegal – fails to find backing in the archives of international law, however.
As pointed out by International Law Prof. Talia Einhorn in an interview with Arutz 7 last month, “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.”
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.'"
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.