Status of territories occupied by Israel in 1967
This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula.[4] In early 2023, the ICJ accepted a request from the UN for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem.It noted: ...under customary international law as reflected (...) in Article 42 of the Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to the Fourth Hague Convention of 18 October 1907 (hereinafter “the Hague Regulations of 1907”), territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army, and the occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.After the Six-Day War, Israel's Attorney General Meir Shamgar adopted a legal argument first articulated in 1968 by law professor and diplomat Yehuda Zvi Blum on the juridical status of Judea and Samaria (i.e., the West Bank).[10][11][12][13] The argument concluded that valid title to the territories did not arise from either the 1948 attacks by Egypt and the Kingdom of Transjordan (contrary to Article 2(4) of the UN Charter), or any of the armistice agreements of 1949, or by Jordan's 1950 purported annexation of the West Bank.The ensuing report, called the Levy Report, concluded that "the classical laws of 'occupation' as set out in the relevant international conventions cannot be considered applicable to the unique and sui generis historic and legal circumstances of Israel’s presence in [the West Bank]", and "Israel has had every right to claim sovereignty over these territories", but opted instead "to adopt a pragmatic approach in order to enable peace negotiations".[15] The arguments in favor of Israel's official position—that the territories should be called disputed, rather than occupied—is explained by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Israeli government websites as outlined below.For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Israel is a signatory to, is applied to East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank.[13] Following the 1967 war, in which the Israeli army occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a military administration over the Palestinian population was put in place.On Thursday, November 29, 2012, in a 138–9 vote (with 41 abstaining) General Assembly resolution 67/19 passed, upgrading Palestine to "non-member observer state" status in the United Nations.The Nuremberg Military Tribunal determined that the articles annexed to the Hague IV Convention of 1907 were customary law that had been recognized by all civilized nations.That situation did not fulfill the precise strictures laid down in the articles of the Hague Convention, so the Court ruled the requisition order had been invalid and illegal.[62] The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that the Fourth Geneva Convention and certain parts of Additional Protocol I reflect customary international law that is applicable in the occupied territories.[63] Gershom Gorenberg has written that the Israeli government knew at the outset that it was violating the Geneva Convention by creating civilian settlements in the territories under IDF administration.