More on "UnOccupied"

From Dror Eydar's The unoccupied territories

..One can say that the government received permission to toss attorney Talia Sasson's report on settlement outposts into the dustbin of history.

Levi’s report concludes that Israel has the right to settle Jews in Judea and Samaria, and that it is incorrect to say that building settlements is illegal according to international law...Since the 1970s, senior jurists in Israel and abroad have argued that Israel is completely within its rights to settle its citizens in Judea and Samaria. Among them are the President of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Judge Stephen Schwebel; Prof. Elihu Lauterpacht of Cambridge University; and Prof. Eugene Rostow, the former Deacon at Yale's school of law, all of whom, along with others, have voiced their clear opinions in regards to Israel's just claim over Judea and Samaria within the historical and legal circumstances.

...[former Supreme Court President]

Aaron Barak and others inserted the legal paradigm of "Belligerent Occupation," according to which military governance draws its authority from the rules of international law in territories that were won in war. The significance is that Israel is deemed, allegedly, to be a foreign occupier, and it doesn't have the right to apply its sovereignty over, or to move its civilian population into, those territories.

...The current report recognizes an intermediate reality: At hand is a disputed territory; two entities hold it; none of the sides is considered an "occupier." There is disagreement regarding ownership, which needs to be clarified through different means, but there is no definition of "occupation" in the international legal sense of the word...

...Another dramatic point in the report is its stance on communities which were built without a government decision ("Unauthorized"). The report concludes that because their creation and development occurred with the knowledge, encouragement and agreement of the most senior government echelons, "this conduct must be considered to be 'authorization.'"

...If the government adopts the report's conclusions, it means that the folks working with Mike Blass over at the State Prosecutor's Office will no longer be able to deny, in the state's name, the existence of these communities and won't be able to advance their destruction through dry legal claims...

More here:

Naftali Bennett, former head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella body of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, said on Wednesday, "The right of Jews to settle in all parts of Israel has existed for 3,800 years, since the days of our forefather Abraham. This right has also been supported by international law since 1920. I congratulate former Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levi on his conclusions, which are based on a basic and solid foundation."

Knesset State Control Committee Chairman Uri Ariel (National Union) said, "The committee's conclusions clearly prove that the settlement enterprise as well as the outposts are legal, legitimate, worthwhile and grounded in international law. I expect the Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs and the government to adopt the report's conclusions immediately."

...Benny Katzover, chairman of the Samaria Residents' Council, said, "The report lays to rest another report by Talia Sasson. We call on the government to adopt its main point, which states that we are not 'foreign occupiers' of the land. Every Jew has a legal right to settle in Judea and Samria."

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