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Israel's Demand for the Right to Settle in Our Land Is Legal
(Israel Hayom) Prof. Talia Einhorn - International law recognizes the historical connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel as the basis for re-establishing our national home. In a 2012 report, Supreme Court Justice (retired) Edmund Levy, Judge (retired) Tchia Shapira, and Amb. Alan Baker, former legal adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed Israel's position that the territories of Mandatory Israel are not "occupied territories" but "disputed territories." Israel has superior rights to these areas, and Israeli citizens are allowed to settle there. The term "occupation" in international law has a precise definition. For a territory to be considered "occupied," Israel would have had to take it from a foreign sovereign, but no such sovereign existed. The Jewish people are the only ones who have viewed the Land of Israel as their homeland throughout the generations. When the Muslims ruled Jerusalem, they did not make it their capital. Jerusalem had a Jewish majority as early as the 19th century. When the British Mandate for Palestine was confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922, it explicitly stated that it was based on the international recognition given "to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country." The Mandate did not refer to Arab national rights, as its purpose was to renew the political connection between the Jewish people and their land. The Jewish people's rights under the Mandate were reaffirmed in Article 80 of the UN Charter. The writer is a professor of law at Ariel University.