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 | | Ben Heine/ MWC NEWS |
A population under a League mandate was deemed to be a subject of international law with a legal interest in the territory that was separate from that of the mandatory power. In Palestine under the mandate, the inhabitants carried a Palestinian citizenship. When Britain withdrew, the community of citizens was entitled to exercise sovereignty. The majority of that community of citizens was represented by a political organization, the Arab Higher Committee, that was recognized by the United Nations, and which asserted a right to establish a government for Palestine. Thus, Britain's departure left no void of sovereignty…The international community has given little support to Israel's claims over Jerusalem. Regarding the eastern sector, it has considered it to be under belligerent occupation, and therefore not subject to appropriation by Israel. Regarding the western sector, it has continued to view the proposal for an internationalized status as viable, and nearly all states that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel have declined to locate their embassies in Jerusalem."
In another article "International Law and the Palestinian Refugees," Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, 2005 Professor Quigley argues "that the conflict is best understood – and poses the greatest chance of ultimate resolution – in the context of international law." "that under the established norms of international law, the Palestinian people have been unlawfully displaced and have a right to repatriation that is not able to be negotiated away through the international political process…The displaced Palestinians should not have to lobby for their right of return vis-à-vis Israel or vis-à-vis the Palestinian leadership. The right is guaranteed by human rights norms. Just as a state that tortures is obliged to desist without being cajoled and without negotiation, so a state that refuses to repatriate is obliged to desist, namely, by repatriating." Anthony D'Amato, Leighton Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law presents controversial opinions in his legal survey of the conflict in an article: The Legal Boundaries of Israel in International Law, JURIST, April 8, 2002  | | Ben Heine/ MWC NEWS |
"…the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact of 1928, as definitively glossed by the International Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1948, has abolished forever the idea of acquisition of territory by military conquest. No matter who was the aggressor, international borders cannot change by the process of war. Resort to war is itself illegal, and while self-defense is of course legal, the self-defense cannot go so far as to constitute a new war of aggression all its own. And if it does, the land taken may at best be temporarily occupied, but cannot be annexed. Thus after all the wars, the bloodshed, aggressions and counter-aggressions, acts of terror, reprisals, and attendant UN resolutions, nothing has changed the legal situation as it existed after Resolution 181 in 1947. The legal boundaries of Israel and Palestine remain today exactly as they were delimited in Resolution 181." Professor D'Amato examines another aspect of the controversy in an article, THE WEST BANK WALL, JURIST Guest Columnist, February 24, 2004 "In my view, the controversy does not solely concern Israel and Palestine. Palestine, it will be recalled, was a Mandate under the League of Nations. Unlike the League's other mandated territories, it was not transferred to the UN Trusteeship Council when the League dissolved in 1946. But the lack of transfer does not mean that the mandate expired, any more than the death of a trustee would terminate a trust. The "administration" of the Palestine Mandate legally devolved upon the General Assembly. In 1947, the General Assembly passed a resolution partitioning the Mandate into two areas, one to be governed by a new Jewish state and the other to be governed by a new Arab state. Although Israel became a state in 1948, Palestine did not become a state. In my reading of this (admittedly complex) history, the Palestine Mandate has therefore never legally been terminated. Until it is terminated-that is, until a new Arab state is created-the General Assembly retains its supervisory powers over the Palestine territory. While the extent of that supervisory power is disputable given all the events that have occurred since 1947, at the very minimum it entitles the General Assembly to retain a legal interest in the proper disposition of the mandated territory." International law is neither precise nor entirely accepted by all nations. Nevertheless, it has been used together with other means to resolve similar conflicts in South Africa, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. The Palestinian/Israel conflict begs for the force of de jure and the forces of nations; the same economic, political, material and military forces used to resolve previous disputes. Those who are concerned with the effects on Israel by imposition of international law should realize that if Israel is lessened by international law, it will only be due to Israel having ignored international law; if Israel is reshaped by the context of international law, it will only be due to Israel having distorted the context of international law in order to reshape the Middle East in accord with its own vision. Everyone should realize that the conflict goes beyond the Israelis and Palestinians. This conflict has bred terrorism, caused other severe conflicts, stimulated arms races, strengthened religious extremists; brought death and destruction to many parts of the globe and has a tendency to engulf our entire civilization in a cataclysm. The international community must be assured that the solution is not worked to suit the agenda of a relatively few; but correctly responds to the alarms of all. The inability to force responses to UN resolutions and provide a legal context to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a principal reason for continuation of the decades old conflict. The corollary is that only enforcement of UN resolutions and adherence to international law will resolve the conflict. Dan Lieberman has been active in alternative politics for many years. He is the editor of Alternative Insight, a monthly web based newsletter.
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