Israel and International Law

I know, I know, the video is 45 minutes long but please believe me, it's worth it. I'd say it's vital for everyone who loves Israel, to watch.

Not a day goes by when the MSM (Main Stream Media) tells you that the settlements are illegal under International Law and that Israel is considered an occupying force according to the Geneva Convention. They make it sound so clear cut. Watch this video and you will see that in fact, the opposite is true.

Professor Eugene Kontorovich's very watchable lecture gives you the facts to answer back.

• What exactly is International  Law?
• When they say that it's illegal under International Law, exactly which law are they referring to, if any?
• Is there actually a court of  International Law which is legally binding upon all countries?
• What legal power does the UN's International Legal Advisory Council have?
• Is a resolution passed in the United Nations binding under International Law?
• What's the difference between the UN General Assembly and the Security Council?
• Did the League of Nations have the status of the General Assembly or the Security Council when it came to binding International Law?

Some notes I made from the lecture.

International Law which is binding is either an agreement made by the superpowers or a resolution passed by the United Nation's Security Council.

Any vote passed by the UN General Assembly has absolutely no legal binding whatsoever. Because of the inherent make up and bias of the GA, all democratic countries consider any GA resolution laughable nonsense, except that is when it comes to Israel.

The UN's International Law Advisory Council is just what it says it is, "an Advisor" to the GA. Its job is to rubber stamp any GA legal opinion. It has absolutely no legal binding power whatsoever.

All UN member states agree to abide by resolutions passed by the UN Security Council.

The League of Nations had the same legal status as the Security Council has today, not the General Assembly! Therefore, any resolution passed by the League of Nations is legally binding and can never be superseded by any GA resolution.

Almost all Middle East countries have had their borders fixed by the League of Nations Mandate process including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey as well as Palestine. The sovereignty and boundaries of these countries have never been questioned with the single exception of Israel.

In 1923, Britain unilaterally removed 70% of the Mandate over Palestine and created a country called Jordan which they gave to their allies, the Hashomite family. Only Britain and Pakistan have ever formally recognised Jordan but no International body has ever questioned its right to exist. There have been no UN resolutions of any kind regarding Jordan's right to exist.

The proposed UN partition plan of 1947 was voted on in the General Assembly but actually had no legal binding. Despite this, the Jews agreed to it but the Arabs rejected it.

The so called "1967 borders" are in fact the 1949 Armistice lines where the armies of Israel and the Arab nations were when they agreed to a ceasefire. The Armistice agreement actually states that these lines have no legal binding regarding any determination of internationally recognised borders.

According to the UN itself, Egypt and Jordan illegally occupied the Gaza and the west bank of Jordan including part of Jerusalem yet not a single UN resolution was passed between 1948 and 1967 against this occupation.

The only dispute regarding the legal status of land which was occupied by Jordan in the 1948 war and captured by Israel in 1967, (which became know as "The West Bank") is whether it has no legal owner at all or whether it in fact belongs to Israel. There is absolutely no legal case for this area either legally belonging to Jordan or the Arabs who were living there up until 1948.

The Geneva Convention forbids governments who began a war of aggression from transferring their own population into occupied territories. However this clause does not apply to wars of defense. When you ask "legal experts" if Israel's wars were defensive or aggressive, (when it is clear to any unbiased historian that all of Israel's wars have been wars of defense), they can never actually agree. Yet, somehow they almost all agree that Israel is in breech of the Geneva Convention!

So, the next time your family member, friend, work colleague or neighbour tells you that Israel's settlements are illegal under International Law, instead of gazing at the floor in silence, you can answer them in clear and concise terms that they are very much mistaken.

Whether the MSM is giving you false information due to laziness to look up the facts for themselves or because they are simply anti-Semitic and wish for it to be true is a subject for another discussion.

Two Rightious amongst the Nations of the World

Douglas Murray

Britain's Little Anti-Semitism Problem

I have just read an outstanding article published in the excellent Internet Site http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/ entitled "Britain's Little Anti-Semitism Problem" in which Douglas Murray, a graduate of Eton and Oxford, described by Wikipedia as "...a British neoconservative writer and [right wing] commentator...", has written about the problems faced by British Jews.

Everything he has written is true yet you will find no British Jew who would dare to pen such opinions. This righteous Goy writes that Anglo Jewry is in a state of denial when it comes to blatant Anti-Semitism in mainstream British culture. After commentating on the outrage by Britain's Jewish leaders directed at Jerusalem Post's journalist Caroline Glick's statement:

I can say without hesitation that I hope never to return to Britain. I actually don't see any point. Jews are targeted by massive anti-Semitism of both the social and physical varieties. Why would anyone Jewish want to live there?

Douglas Murray concludes:

"What these...things have in common is now unmistakeable -- as are the conclusions we must draw from them.

Jews will continue to live in Britain, and in the main, continue to live perfectly peaceful and pleasant lives. But there will be a price. And that price will be the volume of their support for Israel. For the "decent" mainstream has made a decision: Israelis are now what the Nazis were then. The Israelis are the easy target for needed outrage, the focal-center of pretended morality and the diversionary enemy in an era where the real problems seem too large to tackle.

Naturally there will be enough people to continue for a while to demand the odd complaint about this or that. They may manage to force a backtrack here and there. But these will be forced not because anybody has been persuaded of the complete wrong-headedness of what they have said – nor because they have realized the unbelievable wickedness and inaccuracy of their claims – but simply because the "timing" may have been inappropriate, or it should not have been said in this way, or on this or that day, or to these or those people. What all these events have in common is that they demonstrate that the friends of truth are losing. Any wins on these terms are skirmish wins in a war which has turned against the Jewish people."
 

See the full article here:

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3560/britain-anti-semitism


The Pope was Not a Friend of the Jews.

Giulio Meotti

 I found it incredulous the outpouring of praises heaped upon the soon to be retired Pope by Israeli politians, World Jewish leaders and the Chief Rabbis, including the Israeli Chief Rabbi in yesterday's press. No, I am not refering to the fact that the current Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth as a child. A person can change after all. I am speaking however about his offical statements. Here is a man who has never ever spoken the words "The State of Israel", preferring the term "Holy Land" but does not miss an opportunity to speak about "The State of Palestine" which does not actually exist (for the moment). Here is a person who speaks of the Palestinians as "God's blessed people" and implies that although he disagrees with terrorism, he understands the motivation behind it seeing how the Palestinans suffer so much at the hands of the Israelis. He deligitimises Israel and the Jewish people at every occasion and yet somehow these Jewish leaders feel it appropiate to call him a friend!?

Well, today in Arutz 7 they published an article by another righteous Goy by the name of Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist. He writes that:

"...The contrary is the case. The Pope has not been a friend of the Jewish people and he supported the world's most important source of anti-Semitism: the Palestinianism."

About terrorism he writes:

"Pope Benedict did not condemn Arab terrorism, but launched an appeal to young [Arab] people: “Have the courage to resist any temptation you may feel to resort to acts of violence or terrorism.” His words “temptation for terrorism” hinted at the Vatican’s claim that Israeli policy is the root of Palestinian terrorism, while the truth is exactly the opposite."

Read the full article here: The Pope was Not a Friend of the Jews

Some have put forward the argument that he was a good Pope to the Jews if you compare him to the top possible replacements for the position. Unlike the current Pope, they are forthright in their anti-Zionism and blatant anti-Semitism. They preach "Supersessionism" and publicly support the ancient Catholic "Replacement theology". This theology states that "The Church" are the new chosen people who have superceeded the Jews. The Jews are to be hated and despised being that God has cursed them for all their wicked sins, (primary for rejecting His Messiah). Many historians of Jewish history see this theology as the route and major cause of imbred anti-semitism throughout Europe which calminated in the Shoah and the murder of six million Jews.

The return of the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth and the establisment of the State of Israel is in direct contradiction to this theology, so it is not surprising that you will find these Catholic leaders at the forefront of Anti-Zionist and Pro-Palestinian demonstations.

That the current Pope does not openly espouse this theology does not mean that he rejects it. There is no justifiction to call him a friend! I think we will be in a better position when we can clearly recognise who our enemies are. At the same time, we should give better recognition to who our true friends are.

Baruch Hashem that there are still righteous amongst the nations of the world who are our true friends, who say what needs to be said when our Jewish leaders are too scared to. May Hashem bless them and protect them. Amen.

When everything fades to grey.

"One man on a lonely platform,

One case sitting by his side,

[His] Two eyes staring cold and silent,

Shows fear as he turns to hide,

Ah, we fade to gray, fade to grey."

 

“Fade To Grey” 1982 by the Electro Synch-Pop ”New Wave” group Visage.

Propaganda is usually seen as the art of turning good into bad and bad into good. The world of truth is turned on its head. Black becomes white and white becomes black. There is however a more subtle, sophisticated and even more sinister form of propaganda which makes it impossible for anyone but the most astute to recognise. This is when the propagandist fades both black and white into grey! If it can be shown that both sides are guilty of something with no clear idea of who is right or wrong, then no one cares and the perpetrator of true evil gets off Scott free!

This is exactly what A. Jay Adler describes in his brilliant analysis of a recent report which was supposed to look for incitement to hatred in Israeli and Palestinian Schoolbook textbooks. The results of the survey however, astonishly conclude that incitement exists in equal measure on both sides and therefore the blatant and constant Palestinian hatred reported so often can simply be ignored. This incredible piece of propaganda is accomplished by cleverly choosing “academics” with a proven hatred for Israel as well as a list of dirty tricks and out and out lies. Mr Adler aptly compares this survey of lies with the infamous Goldstone report. See the article here:

The Israeli-Palestinian Textbook Study Fraud

Read and be amazed at the sophistication of the lie which has already succeeded in doing Israel no end of damage.

“Academic Study Weakens Israeli Claim That Palestinian School Texts Teach Hate,” headlines The New York Times.

“Textbook study faults Israelis and Palestinians,” the Associated Press informs with balance.

Other articles have appeared in most of the British and Western press.

Message: Don’t take any notice of crying Israel babies when they complain of Palestinian incitement. They are just as bad!

Evil flourishes when apathy sets in and everything fades to grey…

Is there a future For Jewish life in Britain?

After Caroline Glick's statement that Jews should leave Britain, Michael Coren, born in England, who is a major commentator in Canada today, says that he is very disturbed by the sharp rise in blatant Anti-Semitism in the UK.



He correctly identifies a newly found confidence of intolerance in British society of any Jew who identifies with Torah Judaism and /or a Jew who identifies with the State of Israel. British Jews, whether at school, university or work must prove themselves by being totally secular by making anti-Israel statements or else, face a mass of personal attacks, not only tolerated but encouraged by mainstream British society.

Classic Anti-Semitism

As Douglas Murray (who by the way is not Jewish) says: It would be bad enough if Jews in Britain were blamed and felt pressured to apologise for crimes that their fellow Jews in Israel were doing but the situation is even worse than that. The accusations of Israeli crimes are pure fabrications and lies.

It's a kind of an anti-Semitic double whammy!

The current situation should come as no surprise to any student of Jewish history. Whilst living in Britain I was accused on more than one occasion of murdering their "Lord". The notion that I was somehow personally responsible and had to apologise for what the Jews of the Holy Land did to their "Messiah" some 2,000 years is bad enough. What was worse is the fact that history records that it was the Romans who practiced the execution of early Xtians and that the accusations of Israelite crimes were pure fabrications and lies.

It's a kind of an anti-Semitic double whammy!

Ancient Israelites and modern Israelis. The same message.

DO NOT KILL HIM TWICE!

The main point that kept cropping up in this Video interview above is that barefaced unashamed irrational Anti-Semitism is not being condemned by Britain's politicians and the MSM but actually excused and rationalised.

Variations of an Anti-Semitic Theme. The years 1013ce to 2013ce

To paraphrase some of attitudes being expressed:

"The politician has to make these statements because they have a high Muslim population in their constituency. I wouldn't worry about it!"

"Well, you can understand the animosity, enmity and hostility of British people towards their Jews seeing that they identify so closely with the Nazi like actions of the State of Israel. They really have it coming to them!"

"Muslims would not be so angry and be forced to commit acts of terrorism if it weren't for the Jews..."

I see it whenever I speak to Jews in Britain today. They adamantly deny it but they are scared and constantly on the defensive when it comes to their own Jewish identity. Anglo Jewish leaders are warning not to outwardly show signs of Jewishness in the streets. It seems it's open season for Jews in Britain.

Is there a future For Jewish life in Britain?

Classic antisemitism from Palestinians and the British establishment

"Jews were corrupt and brought tragedy on the Europeans ...Faced with the Jews' [evil] schemes, Europe could not bear their character traits, monopolies, corruption, and their control and climbing up positions in government,...In 1290, King Edward I issued a decree banishing the Jews [from England]. Following him were France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Spain and Italy. The European nations felt that they had suffered a tragedy by providing refuge for the Jews. Later the Jews obtained the Balfour Declaration, and Europe saw it as an ideal solution to get rid of them..."

Please note that this is from the "moderate" Palestinian Authority TV.

The British Mainstream Media constantly tell you that Hamas (Chamas) are the extremists and the Palestinian Authority (who call themselves Fatach) are the moderate Palestinians who want peace. This is blatent lie.

The truth is that both Hamas and the PLO Mahmoud Abbas say openly that their goal is to wipe Israel off the map and murder every Jew they can get their hands on. Sometimes humour brings the message home more than actual documented facts so here is Latma TV with an explanation of the difference between Hamas and Fatah.




The obsessive hatred for Israel shown in Britain's MSM is simply antisemitism with a modern twist.

The breading grounds for British media antisemitism starts in the universities.

Despite overwhelming proof brought before the university's authoroties that an invited speaker to an Oxford debate was an out and out fraud and liar, it didn't bother them at all. This despicable woman says things that the British academic elite desperately want to believe, no matter whether it is true or not.

This irrational emotional need of the MSM as well as British academia to believe every piece of anti-Israel news, whether unconfirmed or even proved a hoax can only be due to a deep seated hatred for Jews.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164702

Caroline Glick writes about how she participated in a university debate in London hoasted by the "Intelligence Squared" society, a society made up of the elite of British students.

http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2013/01/bye-bye-london.php

She writes:
 

"I was prepared to conduct a civilized debate based on facts and reasoned argumentation. I expected it to be a difficult experience. I was not expecting to be greeted by a well-dressed mob. My pessimism about Europeans' capacity to avail themselves to reasoned, fact-based argumentation about Israel has only deepened from the experience."

Some further snippets from her article:

"...First, I can say without hesitation that I hope never to return to Britain. I actually don't see any point. Jews are targeted by massive anti-Semitism of both the social and physical varieties. Why would anyone Jewish want to live there?

As to visiting as an Israeli, again, I just don't see the point. The discourse is owned by anti-Israel voices. They don't make arguments to spur thought, but to end it, by appealing to people's passions. 

For instance, in one particularly ugly segment, Levy made the scurrilous accusation that Israel systematically steals land from the Palestinians. Both Dayan and I demanded that he provide just one example of his charge. And the audience raged against us for our temerity at insisting that he provide substantiation for his baseless allegation. In the event, he failed to substantiate his allegation. 

At another point, I was asked how I defend the Nazi state of Israel. When I responded by among other things giving the Nazi pedigree of the Palestinian nationalist movement founded by Nazi agent Haj Amin el Husseini and currently led by Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas, the crowd angrily shouted me down.  

I want to note that the audience was made up of upper crust, wealthy British people, not unwashed rabble rousers. And yet they behaved in many respects like a mob when presented with pro-Israel positions."

British Jewry refuses to understand that they are not dealing here with an uninformed but good meaning press that given enough information and facts, would balance its reporting to be less anti-Israel. What so many British Jews refuse to recognise is that there is an inbred antisemitism within the heart of the elite of Britain which cannot be combatted with mere truth.
 

LBC's Iain Dale and his knowledge of Judaism

I was listening to the Iain Dale show on LBC (London Talkback) radio last night. The show started off talking about cults and then somehow switched to discussing the Anglo Jewish community. It would have been amusing had it not been so tragic with such dangerous consequences. The untruths which were spouted out about Judaism on his programme went completely unchallenged.

Iain asked his listeners a question. How many Jews live in Britain? He then added that no one would believe it when he told them!  Iain eventually gave a figure of around 266,000 and remarked that the Jews certainly punch above their weight. I wasn’t sure what he meant by this. Was he saying that the amount of Jews who contribute to British society is way out of promotion to the percentage of the UK population (Less than one half of one percent), or was he saying that for a tiny minority, they have an incredible amount of power and influence? Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he meant the former.

A caller called Keith came on and said that he was from “Jewish extraction” (whatever that means?) and said that although there were “officially” 170,000 Jews, this figure was a count of only Jews who had registered with a synagogue and,  most importantly, this figure did not include (and I quote) – “The Ashkenazis” (who I understood by his comment, were not real Jews!). If you counted them, he informed us, then there were around two and a half million!

He went on to say that he couldn’t believe in a religion that believed that the world was created in seven (sic) days. "Don't get me wrong!", he said, he wasn’t against Judaism or Jews and proved it by saying that he had recently gone to his friend’s Chanukah party which he explained was the commemoration of G-d creating the world in 8 days (sic)!

Iain seemed fascinated by his caller's "knowledge" and seemed to accept everything he said as fact without confirmation or challenge.
 

I had had enough. I immediately fired off an email via the LBC web site on my mobile phone explaining why Keith was talking total and utter nonsense. I have no idea if Iain even read my email as he never mentioned it during the show and I did not get a reply.

 

These were the points I made:

The Jewish population of the UK
 

The Jewish population includes both Sefardi and Ashkenazi Jews.

If we discount those people who wrote round that they were Jewish despite not being so according to Halacha (Jewish Law) and count in those who by choice chose not to answer the Census question on Religion I would guess that the figure would come to around 300,000 Jews left in Britain.

According to Institute for Jewish Policy Research UK, www.jpr.org.uk/) there are around 270,000 Jews who identify themselves as Jewish living in the UK. Most of these, (with the exception of the Orthodox Jewish community), it claims will more likely than not see their children marry non-Jews. The Institute estimates that there were some 450,000 to 500,000 Jews in the Britain around the 1950s.

Chanukah

Chanukah is the commemoration of the civil war and the victory by the Jews of Israel who remained loyal to G-d and His Torah against the Jews who had adopted Greek culture, during the second Temple period. However, most Jewish children in the UK are taught that it was a war between the Jews of Israel and the Greeks invaders in order to avoid the painful issue of secular verses religious Jews.

Therefore, the vast majority of British Jews do not learn beyond kindergarten level Judaism and therefore would not know anything about the civil war. However The Talmud, tractate Shabbat 42-43 states it openly.
 

The Age of the World

The estimate that the world is millions of years old is totally compatible with Torah Judaism. It is the fundamentalist Xtians who absurdly interpret their Xtian Bibles literally, despite the text which they are relying upon having gone through numerous mistranslations(sometimes unintentional, others intentional) from Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, German and various English versions.

It is quite ridiculous to assume that the word “day” in the context of Bereishis (the Genesis) story means a period of 24 hours or even a single night and day period when you consider that the sun was not created until the fourth day!

The Hebrew word used in the Bereishis story is “Yom”. The word consists of three letters. A Yud, Vav and Mem.  The Yud is a tiny vertical line. The Vav is a larger vertical line. The Mem is completed box, the same height as the Vav. Its true meaning is expressed in its graphical format. Tiny, larger and completed. In other words, a process of creation. The word “Yom” simply means an unspecified period of creation.

יום

Another “Jewish” (I use the term lightly) caller phoned in and said that he was very proud that all his family celebrated Xmas, his daughter had married a Buddhist and his son a Xtian. Iain Dale praised him for his open mindedness. The caller remarked that he assumed that the quoted figure of UK Jews was very low due to assimilation or moving to Israel and he would guess that it had been a lot larger at one time. Iain replied that he would check but he was sure that the Jewish population of Jews in Britain had remained steady for generations.

I found Iain Dale’s complete ignorance when it came to Jews and their beliefs staggering and deeply troubling. If this is what the cream of British intelligencer believe then it shows a frightening ignorance of who Jews are and what they believe in, within mainstream Britain which profoundly effects its views not only of local Jewish issues, but also its views of Israel and our historical and religious right to the Land of Israel.

*** UPDATE ***

I received a reply from Iain Dale the next morning:

Rob
Thanks for this. I don't think I ever professed to have any great knowledge of Judaism! In the new year we will be doing an hour every Wednesday looking at different religions.

Kind regards

Iain

Well, at least he read the email.
 

Answering the Lies. What every Jew should know.

"From the river to the sea..."

 

Addressing a crowd in Gaza on 14 December, Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said,

"Today, we say, in a clear and unambiguous fashion: the armed resistance and armed struggle are our strategic choice and our path to liberate the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, and to drive the usurping invaders out of the blessed land of Palestine."

He added, "The fact that Hamas, at one stage or another, accepts the goal of gradual liberation - of Gaza, of the West Bank, or of Jerusalem - is not at the expense of our strategic vision with regard to the land of Palestine."

 

Lie: Israel intentionally targeted civilians.

(IDF statistics)

·         177 Palestinians were killed in Operation Pillar of Defence.

·         120 were ‘engaged in terrorist activity’ and 57 civilian deaths.

·         That total is a tiny number of deaths from 1500 air strikes.

·         A ratio of more than two terrorists for every civilian killed.

·         Afghanistan ratio was 3 civilians for every one combatant killed.

·         Iraq ratio 4 civilians for every one combatant killed.

This is a staggering feat of precision the Israelis achieved.

This is even more astonishing given that the Hamas situated their rockets and ammunitions in the middle of civilian areas in order to get its own people killed to score propaganda points.

There is a whole army department whose job it is to warn Palestinians of an impending attack. Amongst other things, they phone families in surrounding buildings of a target and warn them to evacuate. No other army does this.

 

 

Lie: There is a cycle of violence which only Israel can stop.

Hamas attacks are not caused by ‘frustration with the blockade’. The blockade is only there because of the murderous attacks by the Palestinians.

The cycle is only driven by one side. There is Palestinian aggression and Israeli defence and prevention!

 

Lie: All the Palestinians want is a state of their own.

The media fail to understand that the real goal of the Palestinian rulers is not the establishment of a viable independent state but the destruction of Israel.

Even a cursory investigation would prove this:

• Palestinian media outlets shout out this message every day.
• Official public recognition for terrorists who murdered Jewish civilians as national heroes.
• Religious leaders on public radio and TV preach hatred and incite to murder on a daily basis.
• Palestinian schools teach this as well as children’s TV.
• They define occupied land as the whole of Israel, not just “The West Bank”.

 

Just a search in YouTube for “Palestinian media watch”

Go to Palwatch.com

 

Lie: There is an Israeli Blockade which is starving the Palestinian people.

·         No one ever talks about the Egyptian border! The media forgets that there are in fact two borders. It is Egypt which keeps its border with Gaza sealed not allowing any aid, yet turns a blind eye to a free flow of weapons being smuggled in over the border.

Mysteriously the Hamas isn’t firing rockets at Cairo!

·         Israel only restricts certain goods from coming in on security grounds.

·         Israel not only allows in a huge amount of humanitarian and medical supplies each and every day, it provides a large percentage of that aid itself.

·         Most importantly however, Israel insures a two way free flow of trade goods 24 hours a day.

·         Due to signed trade agreements, Israel is the biggest buyer of Palestinian exports.

Look at YouTube videos showing Palestinian markets and shopping centres, restaurants and cafes.

 

Lie: The core obstacle to ME peace is the illegal Jewish Settlements on Palestinian land.

The core obstacle to peace between Israel and any Arab nation is the Arab’s refusal to recognise the State of Israel as a Jewish State. There will never be peace so long as the central policy of the Palestinian rulers is not the establishment of a Palestinian state with peaceful borders (as the world media keeps telling you) but the destruction of the State of Israel.

Note also that the central goals of both the Palestinian Authority and Chamas are the same.

Even a cursory investigation would prove this:

• Palestinian media outlets shout out this message every day.
• Official public recognition for terrorists who murdered Jewish civilians as national heroes.
• Religious leaders on public radio and TV preach hatred and incite to murder on a daily basis.
• Palestinian schools teach this as well as children’s TV.
• They define occupied land as the whole of Israel, not just “The West Bank”.

 

Just a search in YouTube for “Palestinian media watch”

·         Jewish settlements on land over the 1967 border constitute just fewer than 2% of the entire land.

 

·         Israel is offering to give up on 98% of what is historically, the heartland of the land of Israel.

The question itself assumes that the settlements are in fact illegal whereas in fact they are legally disputed!

 

See http://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id351.html for various expert legal opinions.

 

·         The Jews have the legal – as well as the moral and historical right to settle within Judea and Shomron, historically the heartland of the land of Israel, a right given to them by the Great Powers after the First World War on account of the unique historical claim by the Jews to the land then called Palestine. This Jewish right to settle anywhere in that land was entrusted to Britain to deliver under the terms of the Mandate for Palestine – an obligation which it proceeded to break. Yet this history and law are denied or ignored by European and United Nations legal experts.

 

·         Judge Stephen Schwebel, former president of the International Court of Justice, determined that Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria was rooted in self-defense and therefore did not constitute “occupation.”

 

·         Eugene Rostow, former dean of Yale Law School, former undersecretary of state and co-author of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which sets out the criteria for Israel-Arab peacemaking said U.N. Resolution 242 does not call for withdrawal to the pre-1967 boundaries; Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai amounts to a 90 percent withdrawal from post-1967 areas; the legality of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria “cannot be terminated except by a recognized peace between Israel and its neighbors, and perhaps not even then, in view of Article 80 of the U.N. Charter, ‘the Palestine article,’” which upholds the 1922 British Mandate for Palestine. This 1922 international legal instrument considered Judea and Samaria part of the Jewish national homeland: “Jews have the same right to settle [in Judea and Samaria] as they have to settle in Haifa.”

 

·         The 1993 Oslo Accord does not prohibit the construction of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.

 

The Real Solution.

There would be peace between Israel and the Palestinians which would include a Palestinian State living peacefully with Israel if the Palestinian Authority would declare, in Arabic as well as English, that it accepts the right of the state of Israel to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people, and announce to its own people (in Arabic and English) that their policy is no longer to wage a war of destruction against the Jewish State of Israel.

If the Palestinian Authority were to say that and to match those words by actions, for example, by ending the constant message that their aim is to capture the incitement in the educational materials and media under its authority, to hatred and murder of Jews and Israelis, then there would be peace and a state of Palestine. This would happen despite right-wing Israeli objections because Israel is a democracy and the overwhelming majority of Israelis favour a compromise over land for a true long lasting peace.