[Jerusalem Post] Editorial - To the ever-lengthening litany of Israeli wickedness add quarry pillaging. The front-page headline in Sunday's International Herald Tribune read: "West Bank Losing Land to Israel, Rock by Rock." The West Bank is disputed territory: When the Palestinians rejected the two-state solution in 1948, Jordan annexed the area. In 1967, Israel repelled a Jordanian attack and captured the territory. The 1949 Geneva Convention - the basis for claims that Israel is violating international law - applies in cases of armed conflict between signatories to the convention. While Jordan and Israel are signatories, virtually no state recognized Jordan's annexation of the West Bank. Hence the area was and remains in legal limbo. While Israel, de facto, adheres to the humanitarian provisions of the Geneva Convention, it has a right to quarry in the contested territory. No one suggests the quarries have been illegally confiscated or are private property.
2009-03-13 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive