Gilo and other Israeli colonies (sometimes referred to as "settlements") built in Occupied East Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law and must be referred to as such. Referring to these colonies as "neighborhoods" or "communities" is misleading, and does not reflect international law, the policies of the United Nations, the United States or the European Union. A failure to describe these colonies in their accurate political context deprives audiences of the opportunity to understand a principal source of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: Israel's illegal confiscation of Palestinian land. The term "neighborhood" or "community" camouflages the very reasons why such colonies are newsworthy: they are illegal and they are discriminatory (the villagers from whom the land was confiscated have no right to live in the colonies built on their confiscated land). These "neighborhoods" constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998).
HISTORY:
- On June 5, 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, thereby becoming an occupying power subject to the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
- Gilo is an Israeli colony situated on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in June 1967. In 1970, Israel confiscated land from the Palestinian villages of Beit Jala, Beit Safa and Sharafat and established the colony of Gilo in 1971. Israel later confiscated additional land from the Palestinian village of Beit Safa in order to expand Gilo.
POSITION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW - THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION:
The Fourth Geneva Convention, ratified by Israel in June 1951, prohibits Israel from establishing colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Article 49 (6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention states "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."
According to the Commentary of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the prohibition on the establishment of settlements is "intended to prevent a practice adopted during the Second World War by certain Powers, which transferred portions of their own population to occupied territory for political and racial reasons or in order, as they claimed, to colonize those territories. Such transfers worsened the economic situation of the native population and endangered their separate existence as a race."
U.N. POSITION ON COLONIES:
The United Nations recognizes that Israel's practice of establishing colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
- United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 452 of 1979:
Calls upon the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.
- UNSCR 465 of 1980:
Determines that all measures taken by Israel... including Jerusalem... have no legal validity and... Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention... and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
U.S. POSITION ON COLONIES:
Official U.S. policy considers Israeli colonies to be inconsistent with international law and are accordingly described as provocative, unilateral actions that predetermine and prejudge the issues reserved for permanent status negotiations.
- Carter Administration: In the April 21, 1978 opinion of the Legal Adviser to the Department of State, Herbert Hansell, he concluded that:
Israeli civilian settlements thus appear to constitute a "transfer of parts of its own civilian population into the territories it occupies" within the scope of paragraph 6 [of Article 49, Fourth Geneva Convention]...[T]he establishment of the civilian settlements in those [Palestinian] territories is inconsistent with international law.
- George H. Bush Administration: The October 1991 U.S. Letter of Assurances to the Palestinians states that:
... The United States is opposed and will continue to oppose settlement activity in the territories occupied in 1967, which remains an obstacle to peace.
- Clinton Administration: On April 9, 1999, James Rubin, the State Department Spokesperson stated:
We made clear to [Israeli Foreign Minister Sharon] that we are opposed to unilateral acts by Israel, including and especially settlement activity... ...We are particularly concerned about... these Israeli activities that could predetermine and prejudge issues reserved for permanent status negotiations.
- George W. Bush Administration: On April 5, 2001 a U.S. State Department Spokesperson stated:
Continuing settlement activity by Israel does risk further inflaming an already volatile situation in the region. This is a provocation and we have consistently encouraged both sides to refrain from provocative acts.
EU POSITION ON COLONIES:
The official European Union policy consistently regards colonies as illegal under international law and as a major obstacle to peace. It has repeatedly called upon Israeli governments to reverse Israel's colonization policy. In the April 5, 2001 Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union, the EU declared that:
Settlements change the physical character and demographic composition of the occupied territories. All settlement activities are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to peace. The European Union strongly urges the Israeli Government to reverse its settlement policy as regards the Occupied Territories including East Jerusalem.
COLONIES ARE WAR CRIMES:
The establishment of colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is a war crime:
- The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 1998 (Article 8(b)(viii)) defines "the transfer directly or indirectly by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" as a War Crime indictable by the International Criminal Court.
- The Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross Delegation to Israel stated on May 17, 2001 that:
The policy of settlements as such in humanitarian law is a war crime. The transfer, the installation of population of the occupying territories is considered as an illegal move and qualified as a grave breach [of the Fourth Geneva Convention]. It's a grave breach, formally speaking, but grave breaches are equal in principle to war crimes.
