Shaked ( Hebrew : שָׁקֵד , lit. Almond) is a secular Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank . Located near the Green Line , it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council . In 2022 it had a population of 1,128.
133-651: The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law , but the Israeli government disputes this. The settlement was established in June 1981 by the Mishkei Herut Beitar organization, after the first ten homes were complete. It was named for the wild almond trees that grow in the area. In 2006, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz cited Shaked as one of
266-597: 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
399-639: A Kurdish proprietor with the prospects of purchasing the land, but the arrangement faltered. Jewish settlement in the region dwindled over time, due to Arab hostility, Turkish bureaucracy, disease and economic difficulties. In 1921–1930, during the French Mandate, the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA) obtained the deeds to the Rothschild estate and continued to manage it, collecting rents from
532-516: A dynastic alliance with Israel. However, by the mid-9th century BC, Aram-Damascus absorbed Geshur into its expanding territory. Aram-Damascus' rivalry with the Kingdom of Israel led to numerous military clashes in the Golan and Gilead regions throughout the 9th and 8th centuries BC. The Bible recounts two Israelite victories at Aphek, a location possibly corresponding to the modern-day Afik , near
665-577: 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
798-548: 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
931-811: A member of Muhammad 's tribe, the Quraish , was appointed governor of Syria, including the Golan. Following the assassination of his cousin, the Caliph Uthman , Muawiya claimed the Caliphate for himself, initiating the Umayyad dynasty. Over the next few centuries, while remaining in Muslim hands, the Golan passed through many dynastic changes, falling first to the Abbasids , then to the Shi'ite Fatimids , then to
1064-626: 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
1197-465: 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 the West Bank, not even East Jerusalem (Israel did however demanded control over Jewish cemeteries of East Jerusalem). While most of
1330-529: 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
1463-568: A prominent city and major stronghold. It housed one of the earliest known synagogues , believed to have been constructed in the late 1st century BC, when the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing. After Philip's death in 34 AD, the Romans absorbed the Golan into the province of Syria , but Caligula restored the territory to Herod's grandson Agrippa in 37. Following Agrippa's death in 44,
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#17327931335751596-592: A rise in settlements from the 2nd millennium BCE onwards. These were small settlements located on the slopes overlooking the Sea of Galilee or nearby gorges. They may correspond to the " cities of the Land of Ga[šu]ru' " mentioned in Amarna Letter #256.5, written by the prince of Pihilu ( Pella ). This suggests a different form of political organization compared to the prevalent city-states of the region, such as Hatzor to
1729-590: A survey of the entire Golan Heights on behalf of the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land, publishing his findings in a map and book entitled The Jaulân . In 1880, Laurence Oliphant published Eretz ha-Gilad (The Land of Gilead ), which described a plan for large-scale Jewish settlement in the Golan. In 1884, there were still open stretches of uncultivated land between villages in
1862-597: A year leading up to the Six-Day War and the Syrian attacks have been called: "largely symbolic". Former Israeli General Mattityahu Peled said that more than half of the border clashes before the 1967 war "were a result of our security policy of maximum settlement in the demilitarised area". Israeli incursions into the zone were responded to with Syrians shooting. Israel in turn would retaliate with military force. The narrative of Syrians attacking "innocent" Israel from
1995-458: 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
2128-707: Is an Arabized version of the Canaanite and Hebrew name. Arab cartographers of the Byzantine period referred to the area as jabal ( جَبَل , 'mountain'), though the region is a plateau. The name Golan Heights was not used before the 19th century. The Venus of Berekhat Ram , a pebble from the Lower Paleolithic era found in the Golan Heights, may have been carved by Homo erectus between 700,000 and 230,000 BC. The southern Golan saw
2261-633: Is first attested by the Jewish historian Josephus . His account likely reflects Roman administrative changes implemented after the Great Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). The Greek name for the region is Gaulanîtis ( Γαυλανῖτις ). In the Mishnah the name is Gablān similar to Aramaic language names for the region: Gawlāna , Guwlana and Gublānā . The Arabic name is Jawlān , sometimes romanized as Djolan , which
2394-712: 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
2527-628: Is not a party), and is currently under investigation as part of the International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine . Shortly after independence, 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
2660-624: Is null and void and without international legal effect". After the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, control of the Syrian-administered part of the Golan Heights was split between the state government and Syrian opposition forces , with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) maintaining a 266 km (103 sq mi) buffer zone in between to help implement
2793-479: 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
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#17327931335752926-629: The Battle of Yarmouk in 636. Data from surveys and excavations combined show that the bulk of sites in the Golan were abandoned between the late 6th and early 7th century as a result of military incursions, the breakdown of law and order, and the economy brought on by the weakening of the Byzantine rule. Some settlements lasted till the end of the Umayyad era. After the Battle of Yarmouk, Muawiyah I ,
3059-700: 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
3192-731: 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, 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 ,
3325-647: The Golan , is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria . It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. Two thirds of the area has been occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and then effectively annexed in 1981 – an action unrecognized by
3458-758: The Jewish revolt against Gallus in 351 CE. However, some of these sites were later rebuilt and continued to be inhabited in subsequent centuries. In the 5th century, the Byzantine Empire assigned the Ghassanids , a Christian Arab tribe that had settled in Syria , the task of protecting its eastern borders against the Sasanian -allied Arab tribe, the Lakhmids . The Ghassanids had emigrated from Yemen in
3591-732: The Mamluk commander and future sultan Qutuz at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The victory at Ain Jalut ensured Mamluk dominance of the region for the next 250 years. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Turks conquered Syria. During this time, the Golan formed part of the Hauran Sanjak . Some Druze communities were established in the Golan during the 17th and 18th centuries. The villages abandoned during previous periods due to raids by Bedouin tribes were not resettled until
3724-890: The Mamluk Sultanate succeeded one another in control of the Golan, before the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire In the 16th century. Within Ottoman Syria , the Golan was part of the Syria Vilayet . The area later became part of the French Mandate in Syria and the State of Damascus . When the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic , spanning about 1,800 km (690 sq mi). Since
3857-715: The Mosaic of Rehob . After the Assyrian period, about four centuries provide limited archaeological finds in the Golan. The Golan Heights, along with the rest of the region, came under the control of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, following the Battle of Issus . Following Alexander's death, the Golan came under the domination of the Macedonian general Seleucus and remained part of the Seleucid Empire for most of
3990-701: The Passover riots of 1920 . In 1944 the JNF bought the Bnei Yehuda lands from their Jewish owners, but a later attempt to establish Jewish ownership of the property in Bir e-Shagum through the courts was not successful. Between 1891 and 1894, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild purchased around 150,000 Dunams of land in the Golan and the Hawran for Jewish settlement. Legal and political permits were secured and ownership of
4123-629: The Seljuk Turks . An earthquake devastated the Jewish village of Katzrin in 746 AD. Following it, there was a brief period of greatly diminished occupation during the Abbasid period (approximately 750–878). Jewish communities persisted at least into the Middle Ages in the towns of Fiq in the southern Golan and Nawa in Batanaea. For many centuries nomadic tribes lived together with
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4256-525: 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
4389-557: The Sinai Peninsula , the Gaza Strip , West Bank , East Jerusalem and Golan Heights . Theodor Meron , at the time the Israeli government's authority on 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
4522-435: 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 the law to implement a move of the embassy can be deferred or blocked by
4655-473: 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
4788-525: 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 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
4921-421: The War over Water . In 1955, Israel launched an attack that killed 56 Syrian soldiers. The attack was condemned by the United Nations Security Council. in July 1966, Fatah began raids into Israeli territory, with active support from Syria. At first the militants entered via Lebanon or Jordan, but those countries made concerted attempts to stop them and raids directly from Syria increased. Israel's response
5054-401: The administered territories contravenes 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
5187-406: The international community , which continues to consider it Israeli-occupied Syrian territory. The earliest evidence of human habitation on the Golan dates to the Upper Paleolithic period. During the Iron Age , it was home to biblical Geshur , which was later incorporated into Aram-Damascus . After Assyrian , Babylonian and Persian rule, the region came under the control of Alexander
5320-462: The northern revolt in 67 AD by capturing Gamla after a siege. Josephus reports that the people of Gamla opted for mass suicide , throwing themselves into a ravine. Today, the visible breach in the wall near the synagogue, along with remnants such as fortress walls, tower ruins, armor fragments, various projectiles, and fire damage, testify to the siege's intensity. Following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, many Jews fled north to Galilee and
5453-437: The province of Judaea , the Jewish communities in the area participated in the revolt. Initially, Gamla was loyal to Rome, but later the town switched allegiance and even minted its own revolt coins. Josephus, who was appointed by the provisional government in Jerusalem as commander of Galilee, fortified the cities of Sogana, Seleucia, and Gamla in the Golan. The Roman military, under Vespasian 's command, eventually ended
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5586-414: The 1923 boundary in order to claim the Hula swamp , gain exclusive rights to Lake Galilee and divert water from the Jordan for its National Water Carrier . During the 1950s, Syria registered two principal territorial accomplishments: it took over Al Hammah enclosure south of Lake Tiberias and established a de facto presence on and control of the eastern shore of the lake. Israel expelled Arabs from
5719-419: The Arab peasants living there. Great Britain accepted a Mandate for Palestine at the meeting of the Allied Supreme Council at San Remo , but the borders of the territory were not defined at that stage. The boundary between the forthcoming British and French mandates was defined in broad terms by the Franco-British Boundary Agreement of December 1920. That agreement placed the bulk of the Golan Heights in
5852-423: The Byzantine village of Deir Qeruh in the Golan, located near Gamla. The church has a square apse - a feature known from ancient Syria and Jordan, but not present in churches west of the Jordan River . The Ghassanids were able to hold on to the Golan until the Sassanid invasion of 614. Following a brief restoration under the Emperor Heraclius , the Golan again fell, this time to the invading Muslim Arabs after
5985-437: 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
6118-453: 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. Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( Arabic : هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ , romanized : Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or مُرْتَفَعَاتُ الْجَوْلَانِ , Murtafaʻātu l-Jawlān ; Hebrew : רמת הגולן , Ramat HaGolan , pronunciation ), or simply
6251-430: The DMZ and demolished their homes. Palestinian refugees were denied the right of return or compensation, and because of this they started raids on Israel. The Syrian government supported the Palestinian attacks because of Israel taking over more land in the DMZ. The Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan was sponsored by the United States and agreed by the technical experts of the Arab League and Israel. The US funded
6384-407: 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
6517-471: The Druze and the Circassians were often in conflict for local dominance. These struggles subsided with the Ottoman government's formal recognition of the Al Fadl's tribal territory and pasturelands in the Golan, which were invested in the name of the tribe's emir. The emir relocated to Damascus and collected rents from his tribesmen who thereafter settled in the area and engaged in a combination of farming and pastoralism. The tribe settled in several villages in
6650-556: 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
6783-423: The Fourth Geneva Convention does not de jure apply. However, all of Israel's arguments have been refuted by 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
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#17327931335756916-419: The French sphere. The treaty also established a joint commission to settle the precise details of the border and mark it on the ground. The commission submitted its final report on 3 February 1922, and it was approved with some caveats by the British and French governments on 7 March 1923, several months before Britain and France assumed their Mandatory responsibilities on 29 September 1923. In accordance with
7049-425: 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
7182-401: 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
7315-439: 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
7448-431: The Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria and was later incorporated into Quneitra Governorate . After the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War , the Golan Heights were partly demilitarized by the Israel-Syria Armistice Agreement . During the following years, the area along the border witnessed thousands of violent incidents; the armistice agreement was being violated by both sides. The underlying causes of
7581-424: The Golan Heights has been called "historical revisionism". In 1976, former Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan said Israel provoked more than 80% of the clashes with Syria in the run up to the 1967 war, although two Israeli historians debate whether he was "giving an accurate account of the situation in 1967 or whether his version of what happened was colored by his disgrace after the 1973 Middle East war, when he
7714-518: The Golan were Jabiyah and Jawlan , situated in the eastern Golan beyond the Ruqqad . The Ghassanids settled deep inside the Byzantine limes , and in a Syriac source for July 519, they are attested as having their "opulent" headquarters in the eastern Gaulantis. Like the Herodian dynasty before them, the Ghassanids ruled as a client state of Rome – this time, the Christianized Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium. In 529, Emperor Justinian appointed al-Harith ibn Jabalah as Phylarch , making him
7847-409: The Golan were inhabited. By the late 19th century, the Golan Heights was mostly inhabited by Arabs , Turkmen and Circassians . The Circassians, part of a large influx of refugees from the Caucasus into the empire as a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, were encouraged to settle in the Golan by the Ottoman authorities. They were granted lands with a 12-year tax exemption. The Al Fadl,
7980-422: The Golan, further increasing the Jewish population in the region. Another notable surge in Jewish migration to the Golan took place in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt , c. 135 AD. During this time, Jews remained a minority of the population in the Golan. In the later Roman and Byzantine periods, the area was administered as part of Phoenicia Prima and Syria Palaestina , and finally Golan/Gaulanitis
8113-400: The Great ascended to power in Judaea during the latter half of the first century BC, the region as far as Trachonitis , Batanea and Auranitis was put under his control by Augustus Caesar . Following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Augustus Caesar adjudicated that the Golan fell within the Tetrarchy of Herod's son, Herod Philip I . The capital of Jewish Galaunitis, Gamla , was
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#17327931335758246-485: The Great in 332 BC. The Iturean kingdom and the Hasmonean dynasty briefly ruled the Golan, then the Roman Empire took control, first via the Herodian dynasty and then ruling directly. Afterwards, the Byzantine -aligned Ghassanid kingdom ruled the Golan from the 3rd century AD, until the region was annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate during the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. The Umayyad Caliphate , Abbasid Caliphate , Fatimid Caliphate and
8379-403: The Israeli and Jordanian water diversion projects, when they pledged to abide by the plan's allocations. President Nasser too, assured the US that the Arabs would not exceed the plan's water quotas. However, in the early 1960s the Arab League funded a Syrian water diversion project that would have denied Israel use of a major portion of its water allocation. The resulting armed clashes are called
8512-479: 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
8645-427: 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
8778-437: The Israeli–Syrian ceasefire across the Purple Line . From 2012 to 2018, the eastern half of the Golan Heights became a scene of repeated battles between the Syrian Army , rebel factions of the Syrian opposition (including the United States-backed Southern Front ) as well as various jihadist organizations such as al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -affiliated Khalid ibn al-Walid Army . In July 2018,
8911-434: 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
9044-429: 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
9177-451: The Prime Minister at the time, Levi Eshkol , knew that Israeli settlements in 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
9310-494: The Romans again annexed the Golan to Syria, promptly to return it again when Claudius traded the Golan to Agrippa II , the son of Agrippa I, in 51 as part of a land swap. By the time of the Great Jewish revolt , which began in 66 AD, parts of the Golan Heights were predominantly inhabited by Jews. Josephus depicts the western and central Golan as densely populated with cities that emerged on fertile stony soil. Despite nominally being under Agrippa's control and situated outside
9443-418: The Sea of Galilee. During the 8th century BC, the Assyrians conquered the region, incorporating it into the province of Qarnayim, likely including Damascus as well. This period was succeeded by the Babylonian and the Achaemenid Empire . In the 5th century BC, the Achaemenid Empire allowed the region to be resettled by returning Jewish exiles from the Babylonian Captivity , a fact that has been noted in
9576-708: The Shavei Zion Association based in New York, but the project was abandoned after a year when the Turks issued an edict in 1896 evicting the 17 non-Turkish families. A later attempt to resettle the site with Syrian Jews who were Ottoman citizens also failed. Between 1904 and 1908, a group of Crimean Jews settled near the Arab village of al-Butayha in the Bethsaida Valley , initially as tenants of
9709-484: The Six-Day War of 1967, the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights has been occupied and administered by Israel, whereas the eastern third remains under the control of Syria. Following the war, Syria dismissed any negotiations with Israel as part of the Khartoum Resolution at the 1967 Arab League summit . Construction of Israeli settlements began in the remainder of the territory held by Israel, which
9842-520: The Syrian government regained full control over the eastern Golan Heights. In the Bible, Golan is mentioned as a city of refuge located in Bashan : Deuteronomy 4:43 , Joshua 20:8 , 1 Chronicles 6:71 . Nineteenth-century authors interpreted the word Golan as meaning "something surrounded , hence a district ". The shift in the meaning of Golan, from a town to a broader district or territory,
9975-541: 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
10108-762: 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
10241-494: 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 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
10374-471: 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,
10507-453: 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
10640-606: 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
10773-506: The area and controlled important roads to Damascus, Galilee and Lebanon. In the 19th century the tribe continued to expand their territory in the Golan and built two palaces. The leader of the tribe joined Prince Faisal during the Arab revolt , and they supported the uprising against the French in the northern Golan. In 1885, civil engineer and architect, Gottlieb Schumacher , conducted
10906-634: The area to the Hasmonean kingdom of Judaea . Following this conquest, the Hasmoneans encouraged Jewish migrants from Judea to settle in the Golan. Most scholars agree that this settlement began after the Hasmonean conquest, though it might have started earlier, probably in the mid-2nd century BC. Over the next century, Jewish settlement in the Golan and nearby regions became widespread, reaching north to Damascus and east to Naveh . When Herod
11039-553: 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
11172-409: The central Golan. Due to financial hardships and the long wait for a kushan (Ottoman land deed) the village, Golan be-Bashan, was abandoned after a year. Soon afterwards, the society regrouped and purchased 2,000 dunams of land from the village of Bir e-Shagum on the western slopes of the Golan. The village they established, Bnei Yehuda , existed until 1920. The last families left in the wake of
11305-542: The central Golan. These synagogues, built from the abundant basalt stones of the region, were influenced by those in the Galilee but exhibited their own distinctive characteristics; prominent examples include Umm el-Qanatir , Qatzrin and Deir Aziz . Some of the early Jerusalem Talmud tractates may have been arranged and edited during this period in Qatzrin. Several sites in the Golan show evidence of destruction from
11438-521: The conflict were a disagreement over the legal status of the demilitarised zone (DMZ), cultivation of land within it and competition over water resources. Syria claimed that neither party had sovereignty over the DMZ. Israel contended that the Armistice Agreement dealt solely with military concerns and that it had political and legal rights over the DMZ. Israel wanted to assert control up till
11571-543: The construction of military settlements for security purposes. They were built on 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
11704-551: 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,
11837-400: 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 the basis of the 1907 Hague Regulations, which implied a temporary nature of Israeli presence, was not employed anymore as
11970-473: 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
12103-505: 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
12236-467: 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 the Golan Heights Law have both been deemed illegal by
12369-483: 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
12502-430: 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
12635-570: The land was registered in late 1894. The Jews also built a road stretching from Lake Hula to Muzayrib . The Agudat Ahim society, whose headquarters were in Yekaterinoslav , Russia, acquired 100,000 dunams of land in several locations in the districts of Fiq and Daraa . A plant nursery was established and work began on farm buildings in Jillin . A village called Tiferet Binyamin was established on lands purchased from Saham al-Jawlan by
12768-575: The leader of all Arab tribes and bestowing upon him the title of Patricius, ranking just below the Emperor. Christians and Arabs became the majority in the Golan with the arrival of the Ghassanids to the region. In CE 377, a sanctuary for John the Baptist was established in the Golan village of Er-Ramthaniyye . The sanctuary was often visited by the Ghassanids. In the 6th century, the Golan
12901-656: The lower Golan, but by the mid-1890s most were owned and cultivated. Some land had been purchased in the Golan and Hawran by Zionist associations based in Romania, Bulgaria, the United States and England, in the late 19th century and early 20th century. In the winter of 1885, members of the Old Yishuv in Safed formed the Beit Yehuda Society and purchased 15,000 dunams of land from the village of Ramthaniye in
13034-623: 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
13167-733: 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), the Court determined that the Hague Conventions but not the Geneva Conventions could be applied by Israeli courts on land and settlement issues in
13300-465: The next two centuries. In the middle of the 2nd century BC, Itureans moved into the Golan, occupying over one hundred locations in the region. Iturean stones and pottery have been found in the area. Itureans also built several temples, one of them in function up until the Islamic conquest. Around 83–81 BC, the Golan was captured by the Hasmonean king and high priest Alexander Jannaeus , annexing
13433-454: 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
13566-566: 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 the land be permanently confiscated, only temporarily requisitioned. Settlements on private land were legal only if determined to be
13699-466: The period between the first Arab–Israeli War and the Six-Day War, the Syrians constantly harassed Israeli border communities by firing artillery shells from their dominant positions on the Golan Heights. In October 1966 Israel brought the matter up before the United Nations. Five nations sponsored a resolution criticizing Syria for its actions but it failed to pass. No Israeli civilian was killed in half
13832-591: 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
13965-657: The reconvened Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions in 2014 declared 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
14098-418: The reigns of Diocletian and Constantine , in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD, led to a resurgence of Jewish life in the Golan. Excavations at various synagogue sites have uncovered ceramics and coins that provide evidence of this resettlement. During this period, several synagogues were constructed, and today 25 locations with ancient synagogues or their remnants have been discovered, all situated in
14231-539: 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
14364-532: The same process, a nearby parcel of land that included the ancient site of Tel Dan and the Dan spring were transferred from Syria to Palestine early in 1924. The Golan Heights, including the spring at Wazzani and the one at Banias , became part of French Syria , while the Sea of Galilee was placed entirely within British Mandatory Palestine. When the French Mandate for Syria ended in 1944,
14497-689: The second half of the 19th century. During the Crusades , the Golan represented an obstacle to the Crusader armies, who nevertheless held the strategically important town of Banias twice, in 1128–32 and 1140–64. After victories by Sultan Nur ad-Din Zangi , it was the Kurdish dynasty of the Ayyubids under Sultan Saladin who ruled the area. The Mongols swept through in 1259, but were driven off by
14630-559: The second half of the 19th century. Throughout the 18th century, the Al Fadl , an Arab tribe long established in the Levant, struggled against Turkmen and Kurdish tribesmen over supremacy in the Golan. The Fadl's presence in the Golan was observed by Burckhardt in the early 19th century. In 1868, the region was described as "almost entirely desolate". According to a travel handbook of the time, only 11 of 127 ancient towns and villages in
14763-470: The sedentary population in the region. At times, the central government attempted to settle the nomads which would result in the establishment of permanent communities. When the power of the governing regime declined, as happened during the early Muslim period, nomadic trends increased and many of the rural agricultural villages were abandoned due to harassment from the Bedouins . They were not resettled until
14896-450: 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
15029-586: 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
15162-560: 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
15295-604: 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
15428-433: 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
15561-652: The settlements that would be included in Israel's final borders under a peace plan with the Palestinians. In 2011, a resident of Shaked, 15-year-old Shahar Sagi, won a silver medal in the Loralux international judo competition in Luxembourg. International law and Israeli settlements Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and
15694-495: 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
15827-499: 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
15960-549: 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
16093-560: 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
16226-404: The third century and actively supported Byzantium against Persia. They were initially nomadic but gradually became semi-sedentary, and adopted Christianity along with a number of Arab tribes situated in the borders of the Byzantine Empire in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The Ghassanids had adopted Monophysitism in the 5th century. At the end of the 5th century, the primary Ghassanid encampments in
16359-453: 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
16492-572: The west and Ashteroth to the east. During the Late Bronze Age, the Golan was only sparsely inhabited. Following the Late Bronze Age collapse , the Golan was home to the newly formed kingdom of Geshur , likely a continuation of the earlier " Land of Ga[šu]ru ". The Hebrew Bible mentions it as a distinct entity during the reign of David (10th century BC). David's marriage to Maacha, daughter of King Talmai of Geshur, supports
16625-620: Was under a military administration until the Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law in 1981, which applied Israeli law to the territory; the move has been described as an annexation . The Golan Heights Law was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 497 , which stated that "the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights
16758-467: Was a series of retaliatory raids, of which the largest were an attack on the Jordanian village of Samu in November 1966. In April 1967, after Syria heavily shelled Israeli villages from the Golan Heights, Israel shot down six Syrian MiG fighter planes and warned Syria against future attacks. The Israelis used to send tractors with armed police into the DMZ, which prompted Syria firing at Israel. In
16891-536: 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
17024-620: 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
17157-526: Was forced to resign as Defense Minister over the failure to anticipate the Arab attack." The provocation was sending a tractor to plow in the demilitarized areas to get the Syrians to attack. The Syrians responded by firing at the tractors and shelling Israeli settlements . Jan Mühren, a former UN observer in the area at the time, told a Dutch current affairs programme that Israel "provoked most border incidents as part of its strategy to annex more land". UN officials blamed both Israel and Syria for destabilizing
17290-555: Was included together with Peraea in Palaestina Secunda , after 218 AD . The area of the ancient kingdom of Bashan was incorporated into the province of Batanea . By the close of the second century, Judah ha-Nasi was granted a lease for 2,000 units of land in the Golan. An excavation held at Hippos has recently discovered an unknown Roman road that connected the Sea of Galilee with the city of Nawa in Syria . The political and economic recovery of Palestine during
17423-464: Was inhabited by the well-established Jews and Ghassanid Christians. The Jewish population in the Golan engaged in agriculture, as evidenced by pre-Islamic Arab poet Muraqquish the Younger, who mentioned wine brought by Jewish traders from the region, and local synagogues may have been funded by the prosperous production of olive oil. A monastery and church dedicated to Saint George has been found in
17556-504: 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
17689-460: 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 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
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