On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution claiming that Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) and Eastern Jerusalem are "occupied Palestinian territory" and that Israel's policy of building communities in that territory is illegal under international law. Thanks to Samantha Power, the UN Ambassador famous for challenging American policy on genocide while completely ignoring the Islamic State's treatment of the Yazidis and the Syrian Civil War, the United States chose to forego its veto power and allowed the resolution to come to fruition. The resolution further calls upon Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard."
From the perspective of someone who does not understand international law or the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, this resolution tells the story that Israelis have trampled over Palestinian lands illegally and decided to build houses on them in a fit of colonial aggression. Unfortunately for them, that is nonsensical and false. The entire argument rests upon the false premise that Israel is "occupying" Palestinian land and that Israel has no legitimate claims to the lands in question. For those who wish to understand Israel's legal rights to the land, Daniel Horowitz wrote a magnificent piece on December 27, 2016, in Conservative Review outlining them under United Nations Charter Article 80, the League of Nations 1922 Mandate on Palestine, and the San Remo Conference.
That still begs the question of whether Israel is "occupying" Palestinian land in the first place. The answer is no, and that is clearly codified in how international treaties define occupation. It is important to recognize that in international law, a treaty represents the persuasive authority of an international legal question. Contrary to the "soft laws" of customary international law and jus cogens, treaties serve the same purpose and legal power as a contract between two parties. Anyone who signs an international treaty is obligated to follow the specific words dictated between all of the nation-states that helped draft and agree upon the terms.
The legal definition of "occupation" comes out of the 1907 Hague Convention, some of the first treaties governing international laws of war and war crimes. The definition of an occupation can be found in Articles 42 and 43 and can also be summarized in the following sentence: Possession of the territory of the legitimate power by the occupying power.
Here is the text of Article 42:
Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.
The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.
Here is the text of Article 43:
The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.
Both of these articles supplement each other in creating the legal definition of an "occupation." Avinoam Sharon, a former military lawyer for the Israel Defense Forces, encapsulated the meaning of these two articles best in a an article published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:
The second precondition stating that the territory must have been part of a sovereign state highlights a critical question that the United Nations, most world governments, and anti-Israel groups like J Street refuse to answer honestly: Has there ever been a legitimate, sovereign state of "Palestine"? The answer is no. Before 1948, the region commonly known as Palestine did not have a sovereign nation controlling the territory. Instead, the British Empire controlled the territory as part of its mandate following the First World War. In 1948, the only sovereign nation that was established in the land was Israel. However, Israel did not possess Judea, Samaria, or Eastern Jerusalem by then and it never had control over the territory until 1967. Instead, that territory was illegally occupied by Jordan, who annexed the territories despite widespread international rejection of its decision. There was no sovereign state of "Palestine" in those lands. In fact, the Palestine Liberation Organization, a terrorist group now masquerading as the representative of the Palestinian-Arab population, was not founded until 1964, three years before Israel captured the disputed territories in a defensive war against Jordan.First, the area is under the actual control of the hostile army. Second, the area was previously the sovereign territory of another state. Third, the occupier holds the area with the purpose of returning it to the prior sovereign.
However, people tend to claim that with the foundation of the Palestinian Authority in Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria following the 1995 Interim Agreement and Hamas controlling Gaza in 2006, Israel is still "occupying" Palestinian land. This line of reasoning suggests that the Palestinian-Arabs now have a legitimate power representing them and if Israel conducts operations in their territory, then it counts as an occupation. However, neither the Palestinian-controlled territories in Gaza or in Judea and Samaria constitute a state, and thus cannot be considered a "legitimate power" that is undergoing an occupation.
According to Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States of 1934, there are four qualifications for one to constitute a nation-state in international law: 1) a permanent population; 2) a defined territory; 3) government; and 4) capacity to enter into relations with the other states. Neither the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority nor Gaza under the control of Hamas meet the standard to constitute statehood.
In Judea and Samaria, there is a permanent population of Palestinian-Arabs, a government, and that government has a capacity to enter relations with other states. However, it does not have any defined territory since the PA still needs to acquire final territorial boundaries through direct negotiations with Israel. In Gaza, Hamas possesses the first three qualifications but it does not have the capacity to enter relations with other states since most of the international community not only does not recognize Hamas as the representative authority of Gaza, but Western states list it as an international terrorist organization.
Since there has never been a sovereign state of "Palestine" prior to 1948 or 1967 and since there is still no legitimate state of "Palestine" today, there cannot legally be an "occupation of Palestinian lands" by Israel according to the Hague Convention of 1907.
Since there was no legitimate Palestinian state and Israel already has legal claim to Judea, Samaria, and Eastern Jerusalem, Israel has the right to build Jewish communities in disputed territory in Area C until a final peace agreement is signed with the Palestinian Authority, if that is still possible at this point...
Source: https://www.dailywire.com/news/11948/breaking-down-israeli-occupation-myth-elliott-hamilton
Communist Socialist Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) promised activists Monday that she would press Israel’s government to end its “occupation” over Palestinians.
Activists from the progressive Jewish organization IfNotNow — which advocates for ending “the military rule over Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza” — approached Warren during a campaign event in New Hampshire and asked for a commitment.
In a video posted to the group’s Twitter feed, it shows one woman telling Warren, “Hi, we’re American Jews. We really love the way you’re fighting corruption. We’d really love it if you also pushed the Israeli government to end occupation.”... WHY WOULD AMERICAN "SO CALLED" JEWISH PEOPLE WANT TO HARM ISRAEL???
In the Bible, King James Version - Ezekiel 37
In the Bible, King James Version - Ezekiel 37
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
In the Bible, King James Version - Psalm 122
122 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.
In the Bible, King James Version - Ezekiel 11
3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
14 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
In the Bible, King James Version -Isaiah 14
14 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
“Yes. Yes. So I’m there,” Warren replied adamantly, before shaking hands with the two and posing for a group photo.
IfNotNow was so exited about Warren’s answer, they issued a news release and praised the candidate on social media for “breaking with the @AIPAC status quo of simply paying lip service to a two state solution.”
In the past, Warren has regularly spoken of Israel as a strong ally in a tough neighborhood and has appeared at AIPAC events and used right-wing talking points. But as her career has gone on, her views on the issue have grown to be farther in line with her progressive values. She was one of 60 Democrats to boycott [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s speech in Congress, she supported the Iran Deal, spoke out against the Embassy move, and opposes efforts to criminalize the BDS movement.
Last month, Warren hired IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger as her campaign’s director for progressive partnerships. Berger has come under fire over a now-deleted tweet from 2013 saying he “would totally be friends with Hamas.”
Personal news: I just finished my 1st week as Director for Progressive Partnerships with @ewarren. She’s gonna be an excellent president.
If you work in movements or progressive politics & want to chat, reach out!
Also, tell me where to find good szechuan in Boston. #TeamWarren
A spokesman for Warren’s campaign defended Berger on Tuesday, telling the Jewish News Syndicate that the controversial tweet was taken out of context.
ELIZABETH WARREN IS A STUPID COMMUNIST SOCIALIST LIBERAL ANTI-JEWISH POS!!!
NOTE: Israel, also known as the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition.
Israel's area is approximately 20,770 km 2 (8,019 sq mi), which includes 445 km 2 (172 sq mi) of inland water. Israel stretches 424 km (263 mi) from north to south, and its width ranges from 114 km (71 mi) to, at its narrowest point, 15 km (9.3 mi). Israel's population, as of a 2014 estimate, is 7,821,850. In size, Israel is comparable to the state of New Jersey.
Source: http://conservativefighters.com/news/elizabeth-warren-tells-activists-shell-push-israel-to-end-its-occupation-over-palestinians/
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