34 No. 75 JUSTICE 1. The Ottoman Empire – the last sovereign title over the West Bank The last sovereign title over the area comprising the West Bank rested with the Ottoman Empire. On the eve of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire extended from present-day Egypt in the south, to present-day Turkey in the north, and from the Mediterranean Sea eastwards over the Jordan river, covering swathes of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea: 140. FREDERICK MAURICE, THE ARMISTICES OF 1918 85-87 (Oxford Univ. Press 1943); YUCEL YANIKDAG, Mudros, Armistice of, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ISLAM (Kate Fleet et al. eds., 3rd ed. 2020) (last visited Jan. 23, 2024), http://dx.doi. org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_36577. 141. Treaty of Peace Between the Allied and Associated Powers and Turkey art. 95-96, Aug. 10, 1920, U.K. 020/1920 (Article 95: “The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions of Article 22, the Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire As the Allied Powers took control of these areas during the First World War, their military forces took up presence where Ottoman forces were defeated. The areas encompassing present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and Jordan (without any distinction between these areas), came under the control of British armed forces. Following the Armistice Convention of 30 October 1918 (the Mudros Armistice),140 British forces established direct military rule over these areas. Following the Mudros Armistice, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan (the Principal Allied Powers), additional allied powers and Turkey negotiated a full Treaty of Peace, known as the Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August 1920. As part of the Treaty, Turkey ceded all territories under its control and agreed to the establishment of alternative legal regimes. However, despite having been agreed upon and signed by the parties, the Treaty was not subsequently ratified due to internal political changes in Turkey’s government.141
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=