Justice Edmond Levy Rules: ISRAEL HAS RIGHT TO LIVE IN JUDEA-SAMARIA

Nadene Goldfoot
Judge Levy is not the first legal expert to say that  Israel has,  according to international law,  the legal right to live and build in Judea and Samaria.  Eugene Rostow and Stephen Schwebel have also ruled that they are not breaking international law.  They just investigated their position once again and take the same stand as found earlier.

Israel, a land where justice has always been extremely important, from times of their very beginnings with Moses to the present,  revisited the their legal status once again to get a new read on it by retired Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy.  He headed a committee that has been examining the legality of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria and  declared on Tuesday that Israelis have a legal right to settle the region, a decision that Israel had already come to take after winning the 1967 war. 

 Israel was attacked in 1967 by surrounding states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, who lost.  The UN has upheld a ruling that Israel is breaking international law of building in what they call the Palestinian territory citing the 4th Geneva Convention.  It should be mentioned that the UN is also top heavy with 48 Muslim majority countries who would rather get rid of Israel entirely and find fault with her at every possible moment.   In fact, Syria is up again to serve on the Human Rights Council of 2013 along with such countries as Pakistan and Venezuela.

Israel was promised by the mandate holder, England, in the Balfour Declaration to have a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.  The original decided piece was lopped off and 80% of it was offered to the Palestinian Arabs who rejected it and have continued to do so for 64 years!  This included Judea and Samaria.  Actually, they were being piggish in wanting Israel's piece as well and in my opinion, weren't after a state but after a way of getting rid of the Jews. At that time they had not voiced any claims of nationalism at all, being Arabs coming from many of the surrounding countries whereas the Jews were in dire need of a homeland and wanted their own homeland back once again after a 2,000 year wait for it.  To the Jews, the land was holy.

At the very least, Jews have this right to live in the lands that they control under the agreements with the Palestine Authority, he has stated.  The establishment of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, which the press calls "West Bank" is in itself, not illegal.

"The laws of "occupation" do not apply to the unique historic and legal circumstances surrounding Israel's decades-long presence in Judea and Samaria."

The report continued to say that the 4th Geneva convention's part addressing the protection of civilian persons in time of war-on the transfer of populations does not apply, and  wasn't intended to apply to communities such as those established by Israel in Judea and Samaria.

There were some criticisms for Israel in the report, though.  The problems were the dozens of new neighborhoods that had been erected without government authorization but not halted by the government, either, and without a link to the mother community.  Several had been built outside the legal jurisdiction allotted to the community .  The ruling is that they are to operate within the confines of the law and this must be enforced better in the future.  This situation is undoubtedly why Netanyahu had this committee formed.  

The committee gave recommendations to be followed.  Future problems of unauthorized communities will be dealt with from now on in a faster manner.  Rules are now clear and must be enforced.

Judge Levy, born in Iraq, was an active criminal lawyer.  He was appointed to the supreme court in 2001.

Resource: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4945
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/07/05/hillel-neuer-syria-is-heading-for-a-seat-on-un-human-rights-council/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Levy
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2010/11/international-law-concerning-judea-and.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/part-ii-on-international-law-concerning.html

International Law Concerning Judea and Samaria

                                                                             

by Nadene Goldfoot

Israel has been through countless wars with the Arabs since 1948 and has won. Now the attack is to cry that Judea and Samaria are settled illegally by Jews. These charges are politically motivated and without foundation in international law. I'm sorry to see that even some Jewish lawyers have been sucked into such propaganda and have become instruments in challenging Israel's right to survive.

Therefore, cities and towns in Judea and Samaria cannot be considered illegal. They cannot be a grave violation of the Geneva Convention and do not constitute a "war crime". This is without legal basis.

A Jewish population inhabiting Judea and Samaria goes back over 3,000 years and has never stopped. Newer ones have been established on previous Jewish sites because of the people's deep historic and religious connection with the land. Israeli communities have been established only after an exhaustive investigation process, under the supervision of the supreme Court of Israel. They ensured that no communities are established on private Arab land.

The only administration which prohibited Arabs from selling land to Jews there was the Jordanian occupation administration during its 19 years of rule from 1948 to 1967. Egypt's occupation from their armed invasion of Israel in 1948 and Jordan cannot legally invalidate rights and titles that remain valid to this day. Both had illegally occupied this land, so their claim was automatically invalid. Judea and Samaria were originally intended to be part of the Jewish State when discussions first started in 1919 after the first World War when the Ottoman Empire fell.

International legal scholar Stephen Schwebel said that a country acting in self-defense may seize and occupy territory when necessary to protect itself.. That's what happened in 1967 when Israel was surrounded by 250,000 Arab soldiers, more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and other Muslim countries. They were all aided by Russia, and they were bent on completely destroying Israel. Besides that, they had managed to close the Gulf of Aqaba, a lifeline for Israel.

The war started on June 5th and a cease-fire was invoked on June 10th, which came to be called, The Six Day War. The Israelis almost made it to Cairo but stopped. After that Egypt and Jordan changed in their attitudes of destroying Israel. That's when Israel obtained Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem. Therefore, the land was not under the sovereignty of any state and came under Israeli control in a war of self-defense, imposed upon Israel.

Agreements between Israel and the Palestinians contain no prohibition whatsoever on building or expanding communities. It is specifically provided that the issue is reserved for permanent status negotiations which are to take place in a concluding state of peace talks. So far, Fatah refuses to come to a peace negotiating table. Israel had even invoked a 10 month freeze on building in Judea and Samaria in order to pacify the Arabs, but to no avail.

Jewish communities are not intending to displace Arab inhabitants. The land has become a patchwork quilt of neighborhoods, just as many American communities have become. South Portland in the early 1900's was a neighborhood mixed with Jews and Italians. They all got along fine because nobody was instigating them not to live in peace. Failing Grade School was a model of success being a smorgasbord of nationalities.

The problem today lies in the fact that the Palestinians want Judea and Samaria all to themselves without any Jews. Not only that, but they want every Palestinian living outside the area to return and live there. This would be a monumental travesty. The 4th largest Jewish city, Ariel, has over 16,000 inhabitants. Israel is not a large area. Almost everyone living there lives in apartment buildings. This is how they are planning to drive Israelis into the sea.

Reference: Myths and Facts by Mitchell G. Bard & Joel Himelfarb

Jewish Virtual Library
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2012/07/justice-edmond-levy-rules-israel-has.html