48 No. 75 JUSTICE 202. Treaty of Peace, Egypt-Isr., Mar. 26, 1979, 1136, I-17813 U.N.T.S. 115. 203. Id. at 195 (Letter Agreement additional to the Treaty of Peace, concerning the Establishment of Full Autonomy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip). For further reading on the 1978 Camp David Accords, see The Camp David Accords, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum, https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/research/additionalresources/camp-david-accords (last visited, Jan. 28, 2024). 204. Id. 205. The Camp David Accords: the Framework for Peace in the Middle East, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, art. A(1)(c) (Sep. 17, 1978), https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/camp-david-accords. 206. Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, Ministry of Foreign Affairs art. I, art. V (Sep. 13, 1993), https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/declaration-of-principles. 207. Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Isr.-Jor., art. 2, 3 ¶ 1, annex I(A) art. A ¶ 7, Oct. 23, 1994, 2042, I-35325 U.N.T.S. 393. Since Resolution 242, together with Resolution 338 which called for its implementation, constitute the agreedupon basis for all future peace negotiations concerning the territories, and since those resolutions leave the status of the territories in abeyance pending a negotiated agreement, subsequent UN resolutions cannot impart on the legality of Israeli presence in the West Bank or Gaza Strip or on the validity of legitimate sovereign claims that could be made in relation to that territory. This is due both to the inconsistent language utilized in subsequent UN resolutions concerning that territory, and, more importantly, those resolutions’ consistent call for a negotiated settlement. Subsequent UN resolutions should therefore be used with caution when attempting to ascertain the content of applicable customary law and when identifying relevant facts for the determination of the issues under consideration in the current proceedings, and, in any event, cannot constitute a sound legal basis for the adjudication of these issues. 11. Israel’s peace treaties with its neighbors left the status of the West Bank undetermined until a future political settlement The agreements concluded over the years between Israel and its neighbors did not resolve the status of the West Bank and left sovereignty over the territory in abeyance until a future political settlement is reached between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel also retained all of its legal claims to the area constituting the West Bank. The 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty makes no mention of the West Bank.202 In a Letter Agreement additional to the Peace Treaty, Israel and Egypt confirmed their previous commitment under the 1978 Camp David Accords203 to start negotiations, the purpose of which was the “establishment of the self-governing authority in the West Bank and Gaza in order to provide full autonomy to the inhabitants.”204 The Camp David Accords envisaged that, following the establishment of such a self-governing authority, “negotiations [based on UN Security Council Resolution 242] will take place to determine the final status of the West Bank and Gaza and its relationship with its neighbors,” as well as to “resolve, among other matters, the location of the boundaries and the nature of the security arrangements.”205 While subsequent Israeli-Egyptian negotiations over the implementation of the autonomy plan failed, the Camp David Accords established the principle that the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would have to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians, and the idea of a transitional period of self-governance was later implemented by these parties in the Oslo Accords.206 The 1994 Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty was concluded without prejudice to the status of the West Bank. The Treaty delimited the international boundary not only between the two states but also between Jordan and the West Bank, and provided that this boundary was the “permanent, secure and recognised international boundary between Israel and Jordan, without prejudice to the status of any territories that came under Israeli military government control in 1967.”207 The Treaty further acknowledged issues that would be subject to the “permanent status negotiations”
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