Introduction
The Israeli occupation state has emerged through repeated initiatives by colonial powers seeking political and economic control over the Arab region (West Asia and North Africa). In 1799, after the defeat of his armies at the walls of Acre and their failure to occupy Palestine and the Levant, the French leader Napoleon launched the idea of establishing a homeland for the Jews in Palestine as a foothold.[1] However, Jewish leaders categorically rejected the idea.
Great Britain, the leader of the colonial world at the time, repeated the initiative in the 1840s, seeking to engage Jewish leaders to establish a national homeland for their congregants. It began recruiting wealthy Jews worldwide to finance organized Jewish immigration campaigns for settlement in Palestine. The Zionist Movement was formed from the womb of colonialism and wealthy Jews, seeking to create a foreign body in the heart of the Arab world.
This idea matured during the Campbell Conference (1905-1907) in London.[2] The colonial powers then divided the Arab world at the Sykes-Picot Conference in 1916, making Palestine a candidate territory for British control to implement the Jewish state project. The British Foreign Secretary promised the Jews that he would facilitate this and grant them a homeland in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration of November 1917. Britain was granted a mandate over Palestine in 1920 to arrange this.
The Palestine Mandate, established by the League of Nations in 1922,[3] aimed to lead Palestine toward independence as a single state. However, the preamble to the mandate document included the Balfour Declaration outside the scope of its authority, which stipulated the establishment of a national homeland for the Jews in the independent state itself.
In implementation of this colonial conspiracy, Britain carried out its role to the fullest extent, suppressing the Palestinians who were demanding their historical rights, while simultaneously providing every opportunity for Jewish immigration to Palestine, even creating a demographic shift on the ground in favor of Jewish immigrants. They exploited Hitler`s crimes in Germany and fabricated the pretext of smuggling Eastern European Jews into Palestine for protection.
The British Mandate also turned a blind eye to the development of the Zionist gangs that formed the nucleus of the army of the State of Israel, proposed by the United Nations. The Partition Resolution was issued in 1947, and Britain announced the end of the Mandate over Palestine, with the last soldier withdrawing on 14 May 1948. The Zionist gangs then declared the State of Palestine at dawn on 15 May 1948, in a harmonious play between them. Thus, Palestine was occupied, and the West continues to support the occupying state, “Israel,” which it implanted like a strange, aggressive weed in a land that is not theirs, at the expense of a people they displaced and persist in displacing and exterminating—the People of Palestine.
The Stages of the Conspiracy to Establish the Occupying State of Israel:
The leaders of the Zionist movement, through the leaders of criminal gangs that emerged in Palestine from Jews fleeing Europe, declared the establishment of the State of Israel at dawn on 15 May 1948, based on Partition resolution No. 181 issued in 1947. This non-binding proposal was also beyond the scope of authority, as the principle of uti possidetis iuris in international law,[4] long applied in independence movements in the Americas for at least 121 years, prohibits the partition or recolonization of a self-determination unit. Despite this, the United Nations at the time unjustly granted the colonizers approximately 55% of the land of Palestine, leaving the Palestinians, the rightful owners of the land, with only 44% of the area of historic Palestine.
However, the Zionist gangs at that time were not satisfied with what they had unjustly and falsely obtained. In 1948, they occupied half of the land allocated to the Palestinians and two-thirds of the area designated for internationalization (Jerusalem). This artificial state now controlled approximately 78% of the area of historic Palestine, leaving the owners of the land with only 22% of the total territory of historic Palestine: The truncated Gaza Governorate (reduced to the “Gaza Strip”), the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, with its Old City.
Just 19 years later, on 5 June 1967, the artificial colonial state of Israel launched a war against the three Arab states: Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The colonial power occupied the remainder of Palestine: The Gaza Strip and the entire West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Thus, the whole territory of Palestine came under the control of the Zionist gangs’ State of Israel.
During the same war, Israel also occupied the entire territory of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Syrian Golan Heights, and part of the Jordanian Wadi Araba south of the Dead Sea. (However, in this article, we will limit ourselves to discussing the territory of Palestine only.)
The legal sequence for dealing with the territories occupied in 1967
1- The Israeli military government as a military occupation by force:
The world, through the United Nations, recognized that all Palestinian territories occupied by Israel following the 1967 aggression are occupied territories subject to the 1907 Hague Convention and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
The occupation dealt with this in light of this and appointed an Israeli military governor responsible for the West Bank, calling it the “Israeli Military Government Command.” However, it set a trap within this identification with international law, not referring to the West Bank, but to the territories of Judea and Samaria. The commander-in-chief of the military government was subordinate to the so-called commander of the Central Command of the Israeli army. The same applies to the Gaza Strip, whose military commander was subordinate to the commander of the Southern Command of the Israeli army. The occupation claimed that it was administering the affairs of these areas until the problem was resolved politically.
2- Then the occupation began its violations of international law, United Nations resolutions and international legitimacy:
- On 28 June 1967, the Zionist occupation state annexed the eastern part of Jerusalem, unifying it with the western part, separating it from the rest of the occupied territories, and considering it part of the occupying state (Law and Regulation No. (1) of 1967).
- On 30 July 1967, the Jordanian Land and Water Settlement Law was suspended by a special military decision, preventing Palestinians from continuing the process of registering their lands and repairing the historical damage accumulated since the era of the Ottoman Empire, due to the conspiracy of the British Mandate. Jerusalem was occupied before the land settlement work was completed, giving the occupation an opportunity to exploit this legal loophole, which they then manipulated to seize the largest possible area of East Jerusalem. (The same situation continues in the West Bank today.)
- On 31 July 1967, the military governor of the West Bank issued Military Order No. 59, declaring unused land as state land. This order was used to declare the confiscation of more than 2.5 million dunams in this manner.
- On 24 August 1968, the occupying state of Israel issued a law allowing Jews who owned or used land or property in East Jerusalem to reclaim it and register it in their names with the Jerusalem Land and Property Authority of the occupying state. This right is limited to Jews only and does not apply to Palestinian Jerusalemites, whether Muslim or Christian, who own property in West Jerusalem.
- Palestinian Jerusalemites who remained in Jerusalem after the June 1967 war are considered temporary “residents,” not citizens. Meanwhile, the land of East Jerusalem, which Israel “annexed” in 1980 to the municipality of the occupation, a Basic Law asserts all of Jerusalem to be part of the occupying state, and its laws apply there. Consequently, Palestinian Jerusalemites have lost the right to citizenship on their land and in their homes, despite remaining there.
- Israel denied those who were outside Palestine during the June War to return, considering them displaced persons and confiscating their property as “absentee” property, administered by the occupation authorities for the benefit of Zionist settlers.
- Israel considered every Palestinian resident of the West Bank who owned property or land in Jerusalem to be dispossessed as they were not residents of the occupying state. This is another measure of material and institutionalized racial discrimination.
- In 1978, they unleashed the confiscation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank under the pretext that they were state lands, for lands that were not fully exploited, largely because they are rocky lands.
3- A radical change in the name that contradicts international law:
- In 1980, a formal change was made to the Israeli military rule in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) of the West Bank, renaming it the “Civil Administration” instead of “Military Government.” The term “General Military Governor” was abolished and replaced with the term “Head of the Civil Administration.” This was a malicious move aimed at changing the concept from a military occupation of Jordanian-administered lands to a civil administration of lands that were in a legal vacuum they were forced to fill. This paved the way for the gradual annexation of West Bank lands.
On 20 August 1980, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) declared the United Jerusalem Law, making Jerusalem the eternal capital of the occupying state and called on countries to relocate their embassies there.
On 6 December 2017, the administration of US President Donald Trump officially recognized united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
On 14 May 2018, the US Embassy was relocated to Jerusalem, specifically to Palestinian land of East Jerusalem occupied in 1967, in U.S. violation of all UN resolutions and international law.
4- Israel’s Disavowal of the Concept of Occupation:
Israel then began publicly proposing that the West Bank is Israeli land liberated from the Palestinians, and that no one else but Israel has a right to it. Palestinians must emigrate voluntarily or forcibly, or face death.
Israeli forces have carried out this ultimatum in the Gaza Strip through demolition, destruction, killing, massacres, and genocide. Currently, the occupiers are carrying out the same killing, demolition, and bulldozing in order to force displacement in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the occupied territories (inside Israel, as well as the demolition in the southern Naqab, the Galilee, and all Palestinian communities inside Israel).
They did this through official measures, including:
- On 19 July 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed a law stating: “The Land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established.”
And that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and that the exercise of the right to self-determination in the State of Israel is exclusive to the Jewish people.[5]
On 18 November 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considers Israeli settler colonies in the West Bank and Jerusalem to be in violation of international law. The status of the occupied West Bank is a matter for negotiation between the Israelis and Palestinians.
On 29 December 2022, Bezalel Smotrich headed to the occupying state’s Ministry of Finance, as well as assumed responsibility for the Civil Administration of the West Bank. This is an illegal and dangerous confusion between the government of the “State of Israel” and the responsibility for administering the oPt (the West Bank). He laid out his plan with the overall goal of settling one million new Jewish settlers into the West Bank. The Smotrich Plan consists of four stages:
1. Gradually annex Palestinian lands in the West Bank, starting with Area C, by completing the process of transferring the authority responsible for the West Bank from the Israeli military to an administration subordinate to the Minister of Finance.
2. Establish a bypass route to, and legalize Israeli outposts established by settlers outside the framework of the law and regulations of the so-called Civil Administration responsible for the West Bank.
3. The Israeli government will take measures to legalize agricultural and pastoral settler colonies, grant them vast tracts of Palestinian land, strengthen the enforcement system against Palestinian construction and expand demolitions of Palestinian homes and other structures.
4. Allocate additional budgetary funds from the Israeli government to meet security needs in the settlements. To pave settlement roads, 8 billion shekels have been allocated for this purpose for the years 2024 and 2025 (one billion for developing the security system and 7 billion for paving roads).[6]
- 9 June 2024: Transfer of all settlement affairs from the Israeli military to the settlers—a violation of international law—without an official announcement or a substantive change in powers.
- 16 July 2024: The Israeli Knesset announced its rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.[7]
- 18 July 2024: The chief of Israel’s Central Command signs a decision authorizing the demolition of Palestinian homes in Area B and prohibiting construction there as well. They are demolishing everything in Area C, expelling Palestinians from their land, and building Israeli settler colonies.
The international law position:
The texts of international agreements and resolutions of the United Nations and its international organizations reflect that Israeli actions constitute a clear and grave violation of international law. And for international law, some of which are:
The Hague Convention of 1907:
Article 43: The occupying power is prohibited from altering the legal system of the territory it occupies.
Article 46: The occupying power may not confiscate private property.
Article 55: The occupying power shall be considered the administrator of the territory of the occupied country and shall treat the property of the occupied country as private property.
Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949
Article 33: Prohibition of collective punishment.
Article 49: The occupying power may not transfer its own nationals into the territory it occupies, nor may it take any measure to change the demographic composition of the territory it occupies.
Article 53: Occupying forces have no right to destroy individual or collective personal property, or the property of individuals, the State, or any authority in the occupied country.
Article 147: Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, is a grave breach of international law.
UN Resolutions:
Security Council resolution 298 of 1971 reaffirms Israel’s military seizure of Palestinian territory by force of arms illegal and a violation of international law.
General Assembly resolution 198 of 1977, which affirmed in its first paragraph that all measures and actions taken by Israel in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, particularly the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab territories, are legally invalid and constitute a serious obstacle to the efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
Two UN Security Council resolutions, 476 of June 30, 1980, and 478 of August 20, 1980, condemned Israel`s attempt to annex East Jerusalem. The resolution also condemned the 1980 Basic Law on Jerusalem, which declared Jerusalem the “complete and united” capital of Israel, as a violation of international law. The resolution stipulated that the Council would not recognize this law and called on Member States to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the Holy City.
Two General Assembly resolutions, A/RES/37/123 of 16 December 1982, and A/RES/39/146 of 14 December 1984, both of which stipulated the necessary measures and actions by all States to bring an end to the illegal situation.
UN Security Council resolution 2334, dated 23 December 2016. The UN Security Council overwhelmingly affirmed that Israeli settler colonies established in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution “Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls,” adopted by the World Heritage Committee during its 40th Special Session held in Paris in 2016, resolved the following:
- The illegality of any change made by the Israeli occupation in the Old City of Jerusalem and its surroundings.
- The legal status of Jerusalem stipulates that it is an occupied city, according to United Nations and Security Council resolutions related to Palestine.
- The need to immediate cease all illegal excavations carried out by Israeli authorities and settler groups in a manner that constitutes blatant interference with the antiquities of Jerusalem.
- Condemned the continued incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli extremists and the Israeli occupation forces, and urging the occupying authorities to prevent all violations of the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Security Council resolution of 23 December 2016 affirmed that Israel`s establishment of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal basis and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law.
The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion on 19 July 2024, affirming that states are under an obligation not to recognize any changes in the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure, or status of the territories occupied by Israel, including East Jerusalem, and not to provide assistance or support in maintaining the situation.
General Assembly resolution A/RES/ES-10/24 of 19 September 2024, which called for Israel to:
- Withdraw all military forces from the oPt, including its airspace and maritime borders; put an end to its illegal policies and practices, including an immediate cessation of all new settlement activities, evacuate all settlers from the Palestinian territory, and dismantle the sections of the wall constructed by Israel in that territory;
- Repeal all legislation and measures that create or maintain this illegal situation, including those that discriminate against the Palestinian People, as well as all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, or status of any part of the territory;
- Return land and other immovable property, as well as all assets confiscated from any natural or legal person since the beginning of its occupation in 1967, and all property and cultural assets confiscated from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions;
- Allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original places of residence;
- Provide reparation for the harm caused to all natural and legal persons concerned in the occupied Palestinian territory;
- Comply immediately with the obligations and provisional measures orders issued by the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (South Africa v. Israel).
Conclusion
The above sequence indicates the method of successive Israeli leaders to circumvent and evade international law and international legitimacy in order to undermine the foundations of establishing an independent, sovereign Palestinian State based on UN resolution 181 and subsequent resolutions. They also evade the consequences of the responsibilities and obligations incumbent upon the occupying State of Israel toward the Palestinian People, including the return of refugees and compensation for all collective and individual Palestinian losses, as well as redress for the accumulated damage of nearly three generations of forced displacement.
They also seek reparation for all demolition, destruction, bulldozing, uprooting of trees, land confiscation, and massacres, which go beyond ethnic cleansing. These are international crimes that must not go unpunished internationally and without adequate reparation from the occupying state. Consequently, this method of manipulation seeks to undermine the foundations of peace in the region and the world.
The Palestinian People continue to adhere to their historical rights as the indigenous people, the owners of the land and the right. They continue to believe in and adhere to international humanitarian law and international legitimacy, and they seek to establish a just and comprehensive peace in the region with the support and backing of the international community that supports justice.
Palestinian farmer raises his national flag on his land occupied by Israeli soldiers. Source: brookings.edu.
[1] Mahmoud Ahmed Darwish and Huda Abdel Rahim Abdel Kadir, “Napoleon Bonaparte`s Declaration for the Establishment for of the National Home for the Jews in Palestine,” International Journal of Cultural Inheritance & Social Sciences (2021): 1–30, ; Center for Israel Education, “Napoleon Issues Proclamation Which Calls Jews Rightful Heirs of Palestine,” undated, https://israeled.org/napoleon-issues-proclamation-calls-jews-rightful-heirs-palestine/.
[2] New Zealand, Colonial Conference, 1907 (Minutes of the Proceedings), 1907, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/AJHR1907-I.2.1.2.7.
[3] The Council of the League of Nations, The Palestine Mandate, 24 July 1922, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/palmanda.asp.
[4] Marcelo G. Kohen, « La contribution de l`Amérique latine au développement progressif du droit international en matière territoriale, » Relations internationales, 1 n° 137 (2009), pp. 13–29, https://shs.cairn.info/revue-relations-internationales-2009-1-page-13?lang=fr&tab=texte-integral.
[5] Osama Halabi and Musa Abu Ramadan, “The Legal System in Israel,” in Munir Fakher Eldin, ed. General Survey of Israel (Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2020), pp. 10–11, https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/attachments/books/ToC%20of%20The%20General%20Survey%20of%20Israel%202020.pdf.
[6] Hagar Shezaf, “`This Is How You Kill the Palestinian State`: Smotrich Says Gov`t Set to Approve Construction Plans That Would Divide West Bank in Half,” Haaretz (6 May 2025), https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-06/ty-article/.premium/smotrich-says-govt-set-to-approve-construction-plans-that-would-divide-west-bank-in-half/00000196-a67e-d9bf-a1b6-effe67780000.
[7] Jacob Magid, “Knesset votes overwhelmingly against Palestinian statehood, days before PM’s US trip,” Times of Israel (18 July 2024), https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-votes-overwhelmingly-against-palestinian-statehood-days-before-pms-us-trip/.
