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Source: https://jcpa.org/article/israel-under-fire-israels-legal-rights-regarding-settlements/
Israel Under Fire - Israel's Legal Rights regarding Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Prof. Talia Einhorn - This report analyzes the legality of Jewish settlements in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria from an international law perspective. Since the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel has extended its law, jurisdiction, and administration over eastern Jerusalem but not to Judea and Samaria. The legality of Jewish settlements in these areas derives from the Jewish people's historical, indigenous, and legal rights to settle in those areas, validated in international documents. Denying Jews their right to live in the Old City of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria means denying their ties to their biblical and historical homeland, precisely those ties that have been recognized in these documents. The claim that the Palestinian Arabs are entitled to an independent state in all the territories, while Jewish settlement is forbidden, is unfounded in international law. Following Israel's War of Independence in 1948, there was an exchange of approximately 600,000 people from each side. Whereas Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees, the Arab states, rather than absorbing the Arab refugees, invented a new "Palestinian people" that had never before ruled the land; there is no "Palestinian" language and no specific "Palestinian" culture or history. The Oslo Agreements were drafted to enhance "a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace." Yet, since they came into effect, the Middle East has witnessed not peace but violence and terror. The establishment of the Palestinian Authority and the subsequent takeover of Gaza by Hamas, as well as the popular support Hamas enjoys in Judea and Samaria, should serve as a guide to the grave risks posed by such an Arab state, which may eventually lead to the destruction of the Jewish state. The writer is Professor of Law (emerita) at Ariel University and Director of the Israeli Institute for Legislative Research and Comparative Law.