Dolev ( Hebrew : דולב, דֹּלֶב ) is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the West Bank . Located 17 mi (27 km) north-west of Jerusalem , it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council . In 2022 it had a population of 1,613.
102-572: Israeli settlements in the West Bank are widely considered to be illegal under international law , but the Israeli government disputes this. Dolev was established in 1983, by five families who moved to the site on the festival of Sukkot . It is named for nearby Nahal Dolev where dolev trees ( Platanus orientalis ) grow. According to ARIJ , the land was confiscated from three Palestinian villages: In 1988, Ulpanat Dolev girls school established
204-524: A war of aggression , or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances. Because the definition of a state of "war" may be debated, the term "war crime" itself has seen different usage under different systems of international and military law. It has some degree of application outside of what some may consider being a state of "war", but in areas where conflicts persist enough to constitute social instability. The legalities of war have sometimes been accused of containing favoritism toward
306-597: A "flagrant violation" of international law and has "no legal validity". It demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention . In 2004, an advisory opinion by the primary judicial organ of the UN, the International Court of Justice , also found the settlements to be illegal under international law. The court's finding
408-523: A duty to prevent" criminal behaviour by a military force. Despite having argued that he had obeyed superior orders , von Hagenbach was convicted, condemned to death , and beheaded. The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague , Netherlands, in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among
510-508: A government act but a voluntary movement by Israeli Jewish people, not acting under compulsion, a position contested by Yoram Dinstein . The international community has rejected Israel's unwillingness to accept the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to the territories it occupies. There are two disputes regarding the Fourth Geneva Convention: whether the convention applies to the territories in question and whether
612-548: A joint statement that "all settlement activity is illegal under international law." After the meeting, ambassadors from the 10 non-permanent council members who serve two-year terms made a joint statement: Israeli settlement activities are illegal, erode the viability of the two-state solution and undermine the prospect for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. as affirmed by the 2016 council resolution. The statement also called on Israel to end all settlement activity and expressed concern at calls for possible annexation of areas in
714-658: A legal basis and framework for the conduct of war under international law. Every single member state of the United Nations has currently ratified the conventions, which are universally accepted as customary international law , applicable to every situation of armed conflict in the world. The Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1977 containing the most pertinent, detailed and comprehensive protections of international humanitarian law for persons and objects in modern warfare are still not ratified by several states continuously engaged in armed conflicts, namely
816-626: A message that settlements must stop privately and publicly for nearly five decades." This position was United States policy and had been stated by Secretary of State John Kerry and by the Johnson , Nixon , Ford , Carter , and Obama administrations. In November 2019, the Trump administration expressly repudiated the Hansell opinion and stated that the United States considered the status of
918-480: A military objective are governed under principles such as of proportionality and military necessity and can be permissible. Military necessity "permits the destruction of life of ... persons whose destruction is incidentally unavoidable by the armed conflicts of the war; ... it does not permit the killing of innocent inhabitants for purposes of revenge or the satisfaction of a lust to kill. The destruction of property to be lawful must be imperatively demanded by
1020-529: A peace deal, he nevertheless asked Israel to freeze construction calling the settlements an "obstacle to peace". The permissive attitude taken by America accelerated the pace of Israel's settlement programme. Reagan's view on the settlements legality was not held by the State Department. The George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations did not publicly comment on the legality of Israeli settlements, but spoke publicly against them. Since
1122-474: A plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes". To date, the present and former heads of state and heads of government that have been charged with war crimes include: War crimes are serious violations of the rules of customary and treaty law concerning international humanitarian law , criminal offenses for which there is individual responsibility. Colloquial definitions of war crime include violations of established protections of
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#17327811138821224-466: A year, the withdrawn Israel troops could reoccupy the West Bank and make a separate peace treaty with the Palestinians. Levi Eshkol informed Washington it would return Syrian and Egyptian territory in exchange for peace, but there was no mention of returning the West Bank, though secret talks with Jordan did take place over possible forms of accommodation between the two countries regarding it. In
1326-713: A youth rehabilitation program, Dolev Homes for Youth at Risk, which now has branches in Ashdod and Modi'in . In 2013, 450 girls from all over Israel were enrolled in the program. Dolev Homes received the National Award for Excellence in Education for its contribution to Israeli society over a period of 25 years. On Monday 26 August 2019, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu directed the Director General of
1428-458: Is a consensus among publicists that the prohibition of racial discrimination, irrespective of territories, is an imperative norm of international law. It has been observed that a double standard appears to apply with regard to Israel's violations of UN resolutions and comparable violations by some other countries. Whereas the UNSC resolutions 660 and 687 regarding Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait and
1530-529: Is a legitimate ruse of war , though fighting in combat or assassinating individuals behind enemy lines while so disguised is not, as it constitutes unlawful perfidy . Attacking enemy troops while they are being deployed by way of a parachute is not a war crime. Protocol I, Article 42 of the Geneva Conventions explicitly forbids attacking parachutists who eject from disabled aircraft and surrendering parachutists once landed. Article 30 of
1632-419: Is called scorched earth policy for the military purpose of denying the use of ground for the enemy. The German troops retreating from Finnish Lapland believed Finland would be occupied by Soviet troops and destroyed many settlements while retreating to Norway under the command of Rendulic. He overestimated the perceived risk but argued that Hague IV authorized the destruction because it was necessary to war. He
1734-712: Is no legally recognized claim to who has sovereignty over the West Bank. The argument is one made by Meir Shamgar much earlier. Moreover, since the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, with the intent to form a Jewish state between the sea and the Jordan river, included the area now known as the West Bank, Israel has at least as legitimate claim to the territory as any other state or group. The Israeli notary Howard Grief argued that, according to Article 6 of The Anglo-American Treaty of 1924, Jewish Settlements are not illegal. The United States, he maintains, had accepted Palestine as
1836-472: Is part of the command structure who orders any attempt to committing mass killings including genocide or ethnic cleansing , the granting of no quarter despite surrender, the conscription of children in the military and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity . The formal concept of war crimes emerged from the codification of the customary international law that applied to warfare between sovereign states , such as
1938-479: Is preposterous and has no basis in international law. Israel also argues that some of the settlements are built in areas where Jewish settlements existed before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and violence prior, when many West Bank settlements were destroyed and the residents massacred or expelled, such as Hartuv , Kfar Etzion , Hebron , and the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem , and therefore the application of
2040-569: Is unlawful. For aerial strikes, pilots generally have to rely on information supplied by external sources (headquarters, ground troops) that a specific position is in fact a military target. In the case of former Yugoslavia , NATO pilots hit a civilian object (the Chinese embassy in Belgrade ) that was of no military significance, but the pilots had no idea of determining it aside from their orders. The committee ruled that "the aircrew involved in
2142-700: The European Union reiterated its view that the settlements are illegal. In November 2019, in a statement made after the change in the United States four-decade-old position, the European Union said that it continued to believe that Israeli settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory was illegal under international law and eroded prospects for lasting peace. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "The EU calls on Israel to end all settlement activity, in line with its obligations as an occupying power". An opinion in 1978 by Legal Adviser of
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#17327811138822244-628: The Golan Heights Law have both been deemed illegal by the UN Security Council (resolutions 478 and 497 respectively), and are not recognized by the international community. The United States abstained from the vote on Resolution 478 and the U.S. Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act , altering key passages to avoid a presidential veto, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The provisions of
2346-737: The Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip , as well as in the Syrian Golan Heights , are illegal under international law . These settlements are in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention , and in breach of international declarations. In a 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) relating to the Palestinian territories,
2448-939: The Lieber Code (1863) of the Union Army in the American Civil War and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for international war. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the war-crime trials of the leaders of the Axis powers established the Nuremberg principles of law, such as that international criminal law defines what is a war crime. In 1949, the Geneva Conventions legally defined new war crimes and established that states could exercise universal jurisdiction over war criminals. In
2550-810: The Nuremberg Trials and Tokyo Trials have been convened. Recent examples are the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , which were established by the UN Security Council acting under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter . Under the Nuremberg Principles , war crimes are different from crimes against peace . Crimes against peace include planning, preparing, initiating, or waging
2652-588: The Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian sovereignty), and Jordan (returning small sections to Jordanian sovereignty); there are currently no peace treaties governing Israel's borders related to the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. Defining The International Criminal Court 's Rome Statute provisions about transfer of civilians was complicated by Israel's position, since Israel felt it
2754-645: The U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1820 , which noted that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide"; see also wartime sexual violence . In 2016, the International Criminal Court convicted someone of sexual violence for the first time; specifically, they added rape to a war crimes conviction of Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo . War crimes also included deliberate attacks on citizens and property of neutral states , such as
2856-578: The UNSC 1441 before the Gulf War demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from land it occupied belligerently, and regarded as a casus belli its putative recourse to a programme for building weapons of mass destruction , Israel, though occupying a foreign territory and reputedly having an atomic arsenal , was treated differently. The difference lies in the fact that UN Security Council resolutions against Israel are widely thought to be passed under Chapter VI of
2958-587: The laws of war , but also include failures to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of battle, such as attacking those displaying a peaceful flag of truce , or using that same flag as a ruse to mount an attack on enemy troops. The use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare are also prohibited by numerous chemical arms control agreements and the Biological Weapons Convention . Wearing enemy uniforms or civilian clothes to infiltrate enemy lines for espionage or sabotage missions
3060-761: The "Lieber Code." A small number of German military personnel of the First World War were tried in 1921 by the German Supreme Court for alleged war crimes. The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the Nuremberg trials based on the definition in the London Charter that was published on August 8, 1945 (see Nuremberg principles ). Along with war crimes the charter also defined crimes against peace and crimes against humanity , which are often committed during wars and in concert with war crimes. Also known as
3162-698: The 1907 Hague Convention IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land explicitly forbids belligerents to punish enemy spies without previous trial . The rule of war, also known as the Law of Armed Conflict , permits belligerents to engage in combat. A war crime occurs when superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering is inflicted upon an enemy. War crimes also include such acts as mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians . War crimes are sometimes part of instances of mass murder and genocide though these crimes are more broadly covered under international humanitarian law described as crimes against humanity . In 2008,
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3264-695: The Blitz as well as the indiscriminate attacks on Allied cities with V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets , nor the Japanese for the aerial attacks on crowded Chinese cities. Controversy arose when the Allies re-designated German POWs (under the protection of the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War ) as Disarmed Enemy Forces (allegedly unprotected by the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War), many of which were then used for forced labor such as clearing minefields . By December 1945, six months after
3366-548: The Clinton administration, the U.S. has continued to object to the settlements, calling them "obstacles to peace" and prejudicial to the outcome of final status talks. Although President Barack Obama and diplomatic officials in his administration have stated, "the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," in February 2011 the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have declared
3468-666: The Convention forbids the establishment of Israeli settlements. Article 2 concerns the applicability of the Convention whereas article 49 concerns the legality of population transfers. War crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war , torture , taking hostages , unnecessarily destroying civilian property , deception by perfidy , wartime sexual violence , pillaging , and for any individual that
3570-700: The Court determined that the Hague Conventions but not the Geneva Conventions could be applied by Israeli courts on land and settlement issues in the occupied territories. The following year the Court ruled on Dwikat et al . vs. the Government of Israel (the Elon Moreh case), outlining the Hague Conventions' limitations on Israeli land acquisition and settlements. Settlements, whether on private or public land, could not be considered permanent, nor could
3672-543: The Department of State Herbert J. Hansell concluded that the settlements are "inconsistent with international law", and against Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Hansell Memorandum found that "[w]hile Israel may undertake, in the occupied territories, actions necessary to meet its military needs and to provide for orderly government during the occupation, for the reasons indicated above
3774-883: The Field (Lieber Code) was written by Franz Lieber , a German lawyer , political philosopher , and veteran of the Napoleonic Wars . Lincoln made the Code military law for all wartime conduct of the Union Army . It defined command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as stated the military responsibilities of the Union soldier fighting the Confederate States of America . The Geneva Conventions are four related treaties adopted and continuously expanded from 1864 to 1949 that represent
3876-570: The Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Israeli-occupied territories. Numerous UN resolutions and prevailing international opinion hold that Israeli settlements are a violation of international law, including UN Security Council resolutions 446 in 1979, 478 in 1980, and 2334 in 2016. 126 Representatives at the reconvened Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions in 2014 declared
3978-670: The Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the occupied territories (the Golan Heights, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) and that Israeli settlements are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called Israeli settlements "illegal". In December 2012, William Hague , the British foreign secretary stated that all Israeli settlements were "illegal under international law". In 2003, The Non-Aligned Movement declared Israeli settlements as illegal, stating, "the main danger to
4080-565: The Geneva Convention is an entirely different issue. Some argue that according to international law Israel is the custodian of absentee property in the West Bank and may not give it to settlers. In 1997 the Civil Administration's legal adviser gave his opinion: The Custodian of Absentee Property in the West Bank is nothing but a trustee looking after the property so it is not harmed while the owners are absent from
4182-461: The Geneva Conventions as part of customary international law, implying all states are duty bound to observe them. Israel alone challenges this premise, arguing that the West Bank and Gaza are "disputed territories", and that the Conventions do not apply because these lands did not form part of another state's sovereign territory, and that the transfer of Jews into areas like the West Bank is not
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4284-559: The Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions.... The following are Israel's primary issues of concern [ie with the rules of the ICC]: – The inclusion of settlement activity as a "war crime" is a cynical attempt to abuse the Court for political ends. The implication that the transfer of civilian population to occupied territories can be classified as a crime equal in gravity to attacks on civilian population centres or mass murder
4386-694: The ICJ's 2024 ruling. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Israel has repeatedly ruled that Israel's presence in the West Bank is in violation of international law. The establishment of settlements has been described by some legal experts as a war crime according to the Rome Statute (to which Israel is not a party), and is currently under investigation as part of the International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine . Shortly after independence,
4488-491: The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental principles of international law, accepted as binding by all civilized nations, were to be incorporated in the domestic legal system of Israel. In the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War , Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula , the Gaza Strip , West Bank , East Jerusalem and Golan Heights . Theodor Meron , at the time the Israeli government's authority on
4590-621: The Israeli régime violates the basic human rights of the Palestinians by impeding the liberty of movement of the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (with the exception of Israeli citizens) and their exercise of the right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) holds that the establishment of Israeli settlements violate Fourth Geneva Convention. The ICRC also holds that
4692-544: The Israeli settlements and related activities a violation of international law. According to records of the 1998 meeting of Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination , Theo van Boven said The status of the settlements was clearly inconsistent with Article 3 of the Convention, which, as noted in the Committee's General Recommendation XIX, prohibited all forms of racial segregation in all countries. There
4794-482: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . As the attack on Pearl Harbor happened while the U.S. and Japan were at peace and without a just cause for self-defense, the attack was declared by the Tokyo Trials to go beyond justification of military necessity and therefore constituted a war crime. War crimes are significant in international humanitarian law because it is an area where international tribunals such as
4896-564: The Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory it states, at paragraph 120, that Article 49(6) "prohibits not only deportations or forced transfers of population…but also any measures taken by an occupying Power in order to organize or encourage transfers of parts of its own population into the occupied territory." All 13 judges were unanimous on the point. The Court also concluded that
4998-536: The Palestinians or Jordan. They added that the settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were recognised as legitimate by the Mandate for Palestine adopted by the League of Nations , and that the only administration that completely prohibited Jewish settlement was that of Jordan from 1948 to 1967. Regarding the Geneva Convention, they maintained that the Israeli government was not forcibly transferring its population into
5100-564: The Prime Minister's Office to submit for Planning Committee approval at its next meeting, plans for the establishment of a new neighborhood in Dolev, near the Ein Bubin spring after the murder of Rina Shnerb . The new settlement will include approximately 300 new housing units, according to the plans drawn up by the Prime Minister's Office. On 27 August 2019 it was decided that the new settlement of three hundred homes to be built in Dolev, would be named after Rina Shnerb. International law and Israeli settlements Israeli settlements in
5202-432: The Tokyo Trial, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or simply as the Tribunal, it was convened on May 3, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" (crimes against peace), "Class B" (war crimes), and "Class C" (crimes against humanity), committed during World War II . On July 1, 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC), a treaty-based court located in The Hague , came into being for
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#17327811138825304-406: The United Nations Charter and are non-binding, being concerned with disputes that are to be resolved peacefully, whereas in the case of Iraq, the resolutions were passed under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter , which are legally binding. Resolution 242 however, while often thought to have been introduced within the framework of Chapter 6, was considered by both the Arab States and Russia at
5406-473: The United Nations responded: A change in the policy position of one state does not modify existing international law nor its interpretation by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Security Council, At the monthly meeting of the United Nations Security Council, just two days after the U.S. announcement, the 14 other Council members strongly opposed the U.S. position and before the meeting began, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Poland reiterated in
5508-399: The United States, Israel, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and others. Accordingly, states retain different codes and values about wartime conduct. Some signatories have routinely violated the Geneva Conventions in a way that either uses the ambiguities of law or political maneuvering to sidestep the laws' formalities and principles. The first three conventions have been revised and expanded, with
5610-471: The West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights after the 1967 war," and "In fact, the 2020 Human Rights Report does use the term "occupation" in the context of the current status of the West Bank. This has been the longstanding position of previous administrations of both parties over the course of many decades." In response to the United States announcement on 18 November 2019 that it no longer considers Israeli settlements to be inconsistent with international law,
5712-477: The West Bank, not even East Jerusalem (Israel did however demanded control over Jewish cemeteries of East Jerusalem). While most of the international community regard the West Bank as occupied, Israel calls them "disputed". The argument that Israel had a claim to the territories was first articulated after 1967 by Yehuda Zvi Blum and then adopted by Israel’s Attorney General Meir Shamgar . Israel has treated them in three different ways: The Jerusalem Law and
5814-453: The West Bank. The Israeli government's essential position is that rather than being "occupied territory," the West Bank is "disputed territory." Given that the Arab states prevented the formation of the sovereignty proposed by the 1947 partition resolution, Jordan's subsequent unrecognized annexation of the West Bank in 1950, as well as the fact that there has never been a Palestinian sovereignty in that territory, it has been posited that there
5916-419: The area ... the custodian may not make any transaction regarding the asset that conflicts with the obligation to safeguard the asset as stated, especially his obligation to return the asset to the owner upon his return to the region. Israel contends that the Geneva Convention only applies in the absence of an operative peace agreement and between two powers accepting the Convention. Since the Oslo Accords leave
6018-429: The attack should not be assigned any responsibility for the fact they were given the wrong target and that it is inappropriate to attempt to assign criminal responsibility for the incident to senior leaders because they were provided with wrong information by officials of another agency". The report also notes that "Much of the material submitted to the OTP consisted of reports that civilians had been killed, often inviting
6120-460: The basis of the 1907 Hague Regulations, which implied a temporary nature of Israeli presence, was not employed anymore as the new government declared land in the West Bank "state land". In 1978 and 1979 the Israeli Supreme court, prompted by the new government policies, ruled on two important cases that set out the requirements for Israeli settlement legality under international law. In Ayauub et al . vs. Minister of Defence (the Beit-El Toubas case),
6222-490: The ceasefire lines and in the Jordan Valley. The fact that they had been established to initiate profitable agriculture was of no legal concern. William M. Brinton , an American publisher with a background in international law, held that Israel was "at least quasi-sovereign with respect to both areas [the West Bank and Gaza Strip] under principles of customary international law", and deemed the settlements legal. Almost all international lawyers and every state but Israel regard
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#17327811138826324-418: The conclusion to be drawn that crimes had therefore been committed. Collateral casualties to civilians and collateral damage to civilian objects can occur for a variety of reasons." The Rendulic Rule is a standard by which commanders are judged. German General Lothar Rendulic was charged for ordering extensive destruction of civilian buildings and lands while retreating from a suspected enemy attack in what
6426-444: The course of fighting. The United Nations defines war crimes as described in Article 8 of the Rome statute , the treaty that established the International Criminal Court: Under the law of armed conflict (LOAC), the death of non-combatants is not necessarily a violation; there are many things to take into account. Civilians cannot be made the object of an attack, but the death/injury of civilians while conducting an attack on
6528-403: The court reaffirmed the illegality of the settlements and called on Israel to end its occupation, cease its settlement activity, and evacuate all its settlers. The United Nations Security Council , the United Nations General Assembly , the International Committee of the Red Cross , the International Court of Justice and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed that
6630-406: The displacement of Palestinians that may occur due to the settlements also violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In June 1980, the (then nine-member) European Economic Community declared in the Venice Declaration that "settlements, as well as modifications in population and property in the occupied Arab territories, are illegal under international law." In 2002 and again in 2012,
6732-473: The establishment of the civilian settlements in those territories is inconsistent with international law." Notwithstanding the Hansell opinion, the official US position had been that the settlements are "an obstacle to peace". In February 1981, Ronald Reagan announced that he didn't believe that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were illegal. He added that "the UN resolution leaves the West Bank open to all people, Arab and Israeli alike". Hoping to achieve
6834-438: The explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention," adding that the prohibition on any such population transfer was categorical, and that "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention ." It follows from the presence on files of these notes, Gershom Gorenberg argues, that the Prime Minister at the time, Levi Eshkol , knew that Israeli settlements in
6936-418: The first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of secular international law . The Lieber Code was written early in the American Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln issued as General Order 100 on April 24, 1863, just months after the military executions at Mankato, Minnesota . General Order 100, Instructions for the Government of the Armies of the United States in
7038-407: The fourth one added in 1949: Two Additional Protocols were adopted in 1977 with the third one added in 2005, completing and updating the Geneva Conventions: Just after WWI, world governments started to try and systematically create a code for how war crimes would be defined. Their first outline of a law was " Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field" —also known as
7140-537: The fringes of the territories, along the Jordanian and Syrian frontiers and along the edges of the Sinai Peninsula. Israel announced that it accepted Security Council Resolution 242 and was ready to negotiate with each Arab state on each element in that resolution. Abba Eban told George Ball Israel was willing to return "most of the West Bank" to Jordan. Egypt and Jordan demanded simultaneous negotiations and withdrawal, with Jordan's King Hussein suggesting that if negotiations did not achieve peace within six months or
7242-483: The international will, constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and relevant conventions, agreements and international legitimacy resolutions, and represents a manifest aggression on the rights of the Palestinian people to their land". The human rights groups Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem have reiterated their view that Israeli settlements as violations of international law. The Anti-Defamation League disagrees, asserting that
7344-430: The issue of settlements to be negotiated later, proponents of this view argue that the Palestinians accepted the temporary presence of Israeli settlements pending further negotiation, and that there is no basis for declaring them illegal. Israel has justified its civilian settlements by claiming that a temporary use of land and buildings for various purposes appears permissible under a plea of military necessity and that
7446-464: The land be permanently confiscated, only temporarily requisitioned. Settlements on private land were legal only if determined to be a military necessity; the original owner retained title to the land and must be paid rental fees for its use. Public lands' possession cannot be alienated, nor its basic character transformed. All areas in question were captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War . Prior to 1967, no Israeli government claimed ownership over
7548-476: The late 20th century and early 21st century, international courts extrapolated and defined additional categories of war crimes applicable to a civil war . In 1474, the first trial for a war crime was that of Peter von Hagenbach , realised by an ad hoc tribunal of the Holy Roman Empire , for his command responsibility for the actions of his soldiers, because "he, as a knight, was deemed to have
7650-578: The law to implement a move of the embassy can be deferred or blocked by the exercise of an Executive waiver . The U.S. views that parts of Jerusalem are not in Israel and the official U.S. position is that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved in negotiations. The EU views that Jerusalem is a corpus separatum , and the United Nations considers Israel's proclamation of Jerusalem as its capital to be "null and void". Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt (removing all Israeli settlements and returning
7752-406: The legal question of whether the expected incidental harm is excessive may be very subjective. For this reason, States have chosen to apply a "clearly excessive" standard for determining whether a criminal violation has occurred. When there is no justification for military action, such as civilians being made the object of attack, a proportionality analysis is unnecessary to conclude that the attack
7854-567: The meantime, with government permission granted, Kfar Etzion was re-established in September 1967, becoming the first civilian settlement to be built in the West Bank. During the 1970s, Israel's Supreme Court regularly ruled that the establishment of civilian settlements by military commanders was legal on the basis that they formed part of the territorial defense network and were considered temporary measures needed for military and security purposes. After Likud came to power in 1977, using land on
7956-676: The national home of the Jewish people, and not as the homeland of "a fictitious, non-existent entity, the Palestinian people ." The Anglo-American Treaty of 1924 still has the force of law pursuant to Article 80 of the UN Charter by virtue of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Laws of Treaties . Israel considers its settlement policy to be consistent with international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, while recognizing that some of
8058-489: The necessities of war." For example, conducting an operation on an ammunition depot or a terrorist training camp would not be prohibited because a farmer is plowing a field in the area; the farmer is not the object of attack and the operations would adhere to proportionality and military necessity. On the other hand, an extraordinary military advantage would be necessary to justify an operation posing risks of collateral death or injury to thousands of civilians. In "grayer" cases
8160-454: The occupation of the West Bank in 1967, numerous United Nations resolutions , including 446 , 452 , 465 , 471 and 476 affirm unambiguously that Israel's occupation is illegal, and, since Resolution 446 adopted on 22 March 1979, have confirmed that its settlements there have no legal validity and pose a serious obstacle to peace. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016 states that Israel's settlement activity constitutes
8262-479: The prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date. Several nations, most notably the United States, China, Russia, and Israel, have criticized the court. The United States still participates as an observer. Article 12 of the Rome Statute provides jurisdiction over the citizens of non-contracting states if they are accused of committing crimes in the territory of one of the state parties. The ICC only has jurisdiction over these crimes when they are "part of
8364-506: The realization of the national rights of the Palestinian people and the achievement of a peaceful solution is the settler colonialism that has been carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, through land confiscation, settlement building and the transfer of Israeli nationals to the Occupied Territory." The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation views settlements as "a blatant defiance of
8466-539: The result of numerous UN resolutions that cite Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, the consensus view of the international community is that Israeli settlements are illegal and constitute a violation of international law. According to Tim Franks from the BBC , as of 2008 every government in the world, except Israel, considered the settlements to be illegal. In November 2019, the United States said that it no longer views them as inconsistent with international law. Since
8568-450: The settlements are legal under international law, on a number of different grounds, among them that "settlements are the voluntary return of individuals in towns and villages from which they or their ancestors have been ousted.. Israel has valid claims to title in the territory based..on historic and religious connection to the land". Stone held that it was legal for Israel to establish Nahal settlements , necessary for military purposes along
8670-586: The settlements as being "not inconsistent with" international law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said: "The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace." However, Pompeo added that "the United States Government is expressing no view on the legal status of any individual settlement." The United States has never voted in favor of any UN Resolution calling
8772-560: The settlements fulfilled security needs. Yehuda Blum further argued in 1971 that United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 calls for "secure and recognized boundaries", and that neither the 1949 armistice demarcation lines, nor the 1967 cease-fire lines have proved themselves secure. In 2002, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that the settlements were being developed consistently with international law and that they did not violate any agreements with either
8874-537: The settlements illegal as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross . Israel disputes the illegality of its settlements, claiming that Israeli citizens were neither deported nor transferred to the territories, that the territory is not occupied since there had been no internationally recognized legal sovereign prior, and that the Fourth Geneva Convention does not de jure apply. However, all of Israel's arguments have been refuted by
8976-604: The settlements illegal except for Resolution 465 in 1980. In that case the Carter administration subsequently announced that the vote had been cast in error due to miscommunication and would have abstained as it had for Resolution 446 and Resolution 452 . Three US Ambassadors to the UN have stated that Israeli settlements are illegal: George H. W. Bush (later US president) on 25 September 1971, William Scranton on 25 May 1976, and Samantha Power on 23 December 2016. Secretaries of State Cyrus Vance and John Kerry also said
9078-500: The settlements illegal. In December 2016, the U.S. abstained on a Security Council Resolution that declared that Israeli settlements are illegal and deemed their continuing construction a "flagrant violation" of international law. In abstaining, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power stated, "Today the Security Council reaffirmed its established consensus that the settlements have no legal validity. The United States has been sending
9180-495: The settlements were illegal. The United States had consistently described the settlements as an obstruction to peace, and sometimes as illegal. In November 2019, US President Donald Trump expressed the position that the settlements were not illegal and rejected the position that the West Bank is occupied territory. However, on 31 March 2021, the US Department of State clarified "It is a historical fact that Israel occupied
9282-499: The smaller settlements have been constructed "illegally" in the sense of being in violation of Israeli law. In 1998 the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs produced The International Criminal Court Background Paper . It affirms in conclusion that International law has long recognised that there are crimes of such severity they should be considered "international crimes". Such crimes have been established in treaties such as
9384-549: The statement that "settlements are a violation of international law" is inaccurate, and providing activists with a list of responses for maintaining that they do not violate those laws. In 2024, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide stated, "Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is in violation of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights". Morris B. Abram , an American lawyer who
9486-454: The territories Israel had just occupied would violate international laws and that by that time Eshkol had been actively engaged in exploring the possibility of settling the newly conquered region. Meron's unequivocal legal opinion was marked top secret and not made public. Fifty years later, Meron reiterated his view. The Israeli government proceeded to authorise the construction of military settlements for security purposes. They were built on
9588-560: The territories. Neither had the land that was being settled been under the legitimate sovereignty of any state beforehand. It further highlighted that no clauses in the Convention could be used to prohibit the voluntary return of individuals to towns and villages from which they or their ancestors had been previously ejected by forcible means. It claimed the settlements had only been established after exhaustive investigations making sure none were built on private land. Canada , agreeing with UN Security Council Resolutions 446 and 465, argues that
9690-524: The time to be binding. In 2004, an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel had breached its obligations under international law by establishing settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and that Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defence or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of imposing a régime, which is contrary to international law. In its 2004 advisory opinion on
9792-597: The topic of international law and legal counsel to the Israeli Foreign Ministry , was asked to provide a memorandum regarding the status in international law of proposed settlement of the territories, which he subsequently addressed to the Foreign Minister Abba Eban on 14 September 1967. He concluded that short-term military settlements would be permissible, but that "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes
9894-417: The war had ended, it was estimated by French authorities that 2,000 German prisoners were still being killed or maimed each month in mine-clearing accidents. The wording of the 1949 Third Geneva Convention was intentionally altered from that of the 1929 convention so that soldiers who "fall into the power" following surrender or mass capitulation of an enemy are now protected as well as those taken prisoner in
9996-563: The winners (" Victor's justice "), as some controversies have not been ruled as war crimes. Some examples include the Allies ' destruction of Axis cities during World War II , such as the firebombing of Dresden , the Operation Meetinghouse raid on Tokyo (the most destructive single bombing raid in history), and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . In regard to the strategic bombing during World War II , there
10098-536: Was based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN Security Council resolutions that condemned the establishment of settlements and attempts by Israel to alter the demographics of the territories under its control. The United Nations General Assembly , which regards itself as having a chief role in the process of the codification of international law, has passed several resolutions with an overwhelming majority that denounce settlements as being illegal. The United Nations Human Rights Council has also called
10200-671: Was being targeted. As formulated it states that one type of offence occurs when the perpetrator transfers "directly or indirectly" a portion of its own population into an occupied territory, stipulating that "transfer" must be understood "in accordance with the relevant provisions of international law." Israel initially voted against the Statute because of this passage, but later, in December 2000, signed it, only to declare in June 2002, that it had no intention of ratifying it. At present, based on
10302-504: Was involved in drafting the Fourth Geneva Convention, argued that the convention "was not designed to cover situations like Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, but rather the forcible transfer, deportation or resettlement of large numbers of people." International law expert Julius Stone , Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney , and Eugene Rostow , Dean of Yale Law School , argued that
10404-457: Was no international treaty or instrument protecting a civilian population specifically from attack by aircraft, therefore the aerial attacks on civilians were not officially war crimes. The Allies at the trials in Nuremberg and Tokyo never prosecuted the Germans, including Luftwaffe commander-in-chief Hermann Göring , for the bombing raids on Warsaw , Rotterdam , and British cities during
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