Israel’s latest moves to ease the sale of Palestinian land to illegal Israeli settlers and expand its authority in the occupied West Bank amount to serious violations of international law and binding agreements, legal experts and rights groups said.
On Sunday, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a series of decisions allowing Israelis to purchase land in the occupied territory, repealing Jordanian-era laws that have governed land ownership since 1967, and extending Israeli authority into areas under Palestinian civil control.
Yonatan Mizrachi of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Team said that Israel has been violating international law since 1967.
“Israel is again violating not just the international law but agreements such as the Oslo Accords.”
He said that this agreement was signed not just between Israel and Palestine but was an issue related to the international community, along with the US, with everybody recognising the fact that some areas in the occupied West Bank should be in the hands of the Palestinians.
According to Mizrachi, Israel’s violation of an international agreement that was signed by itself is very “concerning”.
International law
Israel’s land expansion measures are strongly condemned as a clear violation of international law.
Legal expert Gerhard Kemp said the unlawfulness of Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem regarding settlements, confiscation of Palestinian land and discriminatory practices and policies was addressed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Advisory Opinion of 2024.
The ICJ, in its advisory opinion, had said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal, saying that Israel must immediately cease all new settlement activity and bring an end to its illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“It was, for instance, held that continued settlement policies and confiscation of Palestinian lands violate international humanitarian law (Geneva Conventions and Hague Regulations).
“Any policies aimed at making settlements in occupied Palestine even easier, that is, to the detriment of the Palestinians, must be viewed as confirmation that the ICJ was right to label these activities as unlawful,” said Kemp, a professor of criminal law at the University of the West of England.
The UN Security Council Resolution 2334 condemns all Israeli measures changing the demographic structure, character, and status of the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, since 1967.
It also declared Israel’s settlement enterprise has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
Article 49 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.”
The Hague Conventions on the laws of war also forbid occupying powers from making permanent changes in the occupied territory unless it is a military necessity.
Jordanian-era law