The Law Professor and I

Seems Professor Alan Dershowitz is visiting and he had this to say in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post on Monday:-

"Though the residents of Hebron clearly have the right to live there, the government of Israel also has the right to compromise its citizens in pursuit of peace."

Dershowitz also maintained that since Amona is an illegal outpost it "sounded perfectly right that the courts should order it to be dismantled."

A.. The Jews clearly have a right to live there.

And that right preceded the state of Israel.

In fact, because of that right, Israel, the Jewish state, the reconstituted Jewish national Home, obtained the recognition of the world.

In other words, in my opinion, Dershowitz doesn't know his law. An element that justifies a new situation should not be allowed to be abrogated by that new entity. That's the wrong way around.

Israel cannot deny the right of a Jew, if he wants to live there in Hebron if he purchases his home or whatever in a legal fashion without being discriminated against by state agencies (see B), to indeed take up residency there, even if it is outside what Israel considers its borders, because the prinicple of the right of a Jew to live in the Land of Israel, at the very least between the sea and the river, is one that is enconsed in international law besides, as I pointed out but which needs emphasizing, is the element that permits Israel to be.

B) There is no such thing as "illegal". Even Olmert has learned to use "unlicensed", "unarranged' or even "not yet registered."

True, there are zoning restrictions and other qualifications to be taken into account. But "illegal" without having done anything illegal?

Dershowitz, I would presume, need a little bit more insight into the issues.