32 No. 75 JUSTICE Annex A Israel’s Legal Claims to the West Bank This paper has been written in connection with the proceedings concerning the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”137 The request for the advisory opinion refers to the West Bank and the eastern part of Jerusalem as “Palestinian territory.” Accordingly, it appears to assume that sovereign rights to this area rest solely with the Palestinian people, and it ignores the State of Israel’s own legal claim in these areas. This paper seeks to amend this omission. The following analysis shall focus on the international law grounds that underpin the State of Israel’s claims to the area commonly referred to as the West Bank, which lies east of the Israel-Jordan Armistice Lines of 1949 (as adjusted). However, it would be remiss not to mention that the Jewish people also hold strong and continuous historical, religious and cultural ties to this area, which geographically lies within the areas of Judea and Samaria, part of the historical Land of Israel, and which is deeply connected to Jewish history and tradition. Jewish tribal confederations and kingdoms existed there for hundreds of years, including the kingdoms of Saul, David, and Solomon. It is the home of many sites of significant Jewish importance, including the traditional burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Judaism in Hebron, the traditional birthplace of David and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, and in Shilo, the place of the Ark of the Covenant before being brought to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem stood the Temple of Jerusalem, which for generations was the focal point of the Jewish faith. Despite various periods of forced exile, there remained a continuous Jewish presence in the area, except for the nineteen years between 1949, when Jordan expelled all Jews from the West Bank, and 1967 when Jordan lost its control over the area. The Jewish people never ceded their claims to the area comprised by the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and it remained an integral element of its political and religious conscience; thus the prayers ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’ and ‘If I forget thee, O Jerusalem’. This connection was not lost in modern times, and in the decades prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, Jewish communities built towns and industries in this area. The historical, religious, and cultural ties of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, which encompasses today’s West Bank, were acknowledged in Israel’s Declaration of Independence: “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books… Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland…”138 This paper demonstrates that the State of Israel – independent of the historical, religious and cultural ties mentioned above – has strong legal claims to this area. It establishes – using sources that include the Court’s own reasoning 137. Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Req. for Advisory Op.) (Order of 8 Feb. 2023), available at https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/ files/case-related/186/186-20230208-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf. 138. THE DECLARATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL, 5708-1948, 1 L.S.I. 3 (1948), https://main.knesset. gov.il/en/about/pages/declaration.aspx.
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