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<h1 class="title">Israel's intention to annex the West Bank revealed</h1>
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<div class="stamp">Aug. 20, 2018 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780766">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780766</a></font><br>
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority
Rights in Israel, warned on Monday that the Israeli government’s
response to the petition, filed to the Israeli Supreme Court,
signals Israel's intention to proceed with annexation of the
occupied West Bank.<br>
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<div>The Israeli government submitted legal materials to the Israeli
Supreme Court declaring that "the Knesset (Israeli parliament) is
permitted to legislate laws everywhere in the world and it is
authorized to violate the sovereignty of foreign countries via
legislation that would be applied to events occurring in their
territories."<br>
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<div>This statement was declared on August 7th in a written
response, which the Israeli government had submitted to the
Israeli Supreme Court, regarding to the petition against the
Settlement Regularization Law filed by Adalah and Al Mezan Center
for Human Rights in Gaza on behalf of 17 local Palestinian
authorities in the West Bank.<br>
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<div>Adalah and fellow petitioners argued that the Israeli Knesset
is not permitted to enact and impose laws on territory occupied by
Israel. Hence, the Knesset cannot enact laws that annex the West
Bank or that violate the rights of Palestinian residents of the
West Bank.<br>
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<div>The Israeli government’s lawyer, Arnon Harel, wrote in the
legal materials submitted to that "The Knesset is permitted to
impose the powers of the military commander of the West Bank
region as it sees fit. The Knesset is permitted to define the
authorities of the military commander as it sees fit. The
authority of the government of Israel to annex any territory or to
enter into international conventions derives from its authority as
determined by the Knesset.<br>
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<div>Harel concluded "the Knesset is allowed to ignore the
directives of international law in any field it desires," which is
a direct violation of international law and international
humanitarian law.<br>
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<div>In response, Suhad Bishara and Myssana Morany, lawyers of
Adalah, who filed the petition against the Settlement
Regularization Law, said "the Israeli government's extremist
response has no parallel anywhere in the world. It stands in gross
violation of international law and of the United Nations Charter
which obligates member states to refrain from threatening or using
force against the territorial integrity of other states –
including occupied territories. <br>
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The Israeli government's extremist position is, in fact, a
declaration of its intention to proceed with its annexation of the
West Bank."<br>
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<div>The petition was submitted by 17 Palestinian municipalities and
three human rights organizations from the West Bank, Israel, and
Gaza Strip jointly petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court on
February 8th 2017 to cancel the controversial Settlement
Regularization Law under the pretext that it violates
international humanitarian law and is labeled as unconstitutional.<br>
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<div>The Settlement Regularization Law aims to "legalize," under
Israeli law, illegal Israeli settlement outposts, which have been
built on private Palestinian land.<br>
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<div>The law sets out a new process to legalize about half of
Israel's settlement outposts, as well as about 3,000 additional
homes built illegally in settlements, which Israel recognizes as
legal. Essentially, this law authorizes a further massive land
theft of private Palestinian land by Israel. The European Union
and the United Nations strongly condemned the law, and even
Israel's attorney general announced that he would not defend it in
court<br>
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The petitioners said "the law not only harms the private property of
Palestinians, but is also intended to impinge upon their right to
dignity by clarifying – without hesitation – that the interests of
the settlements and the Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank
take priority over the rights of Palestinians and therefore is
permitted to dispossess Palestinians from their property."
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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415 863.9977
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