(Mosaic) Eugene Kontorovich - Imagine what Israel would look like now if it had declined to apply its law to eastern Jerusalem just after the Six-Day War. Israel's action cemented the Jewish claim to Jerusalem, and by extension the legitimacy of its claims to those areas of the land occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967. It put down an important marker that it would not part with this territory lightly. At the time, the UN Security Council condemned the move; not a single nation supported it. But it created a new reality, which eventually pulled in supporters including the U.S. in 2017. This would have been impossible had Israel not staked its claim in the face of opposition. The writer is director of the Center for the Middle East and International Law at George Mason University Scalia Law School.
2020-07-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive