| Source material proves that Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Conventions does not say Israeli settlements are illegalnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown), | | The sixth paragraph of 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." This has been used since 1967 to claim that Israeli settlements violate international law.
Back in 2012, I dug up all the preparatory notes - the Travaux Préparatoires - I could find for the Fourth Geneva Convention article 49 (then called Article 45) to see if the discussions of the article would shed light on the issue. My conclusion then was that the entire paragraph dealt with forcible transfers and deportations of civilians, and all the drafters were unanimous in saying that forcible transfer of people against their will was reprehensible. Given that Israelis who move to Judea and Samaria are doing that voluntarily, no one can claim that Israel is violating the Geneva Conventions.
However, the 1958 ICRC Commentary on the Conventions indicates that perhaps the sixth paragraph is anomalous inside the article and does not only refer to forced transfer: PARAGRAPH 6. -- DEPORTATION AND TRANSFER OF PERSONS INTO
OCCUPIED TERRITORY This clause was adopted after some hesitation, by the XVIIth International Red Cross Conference (13). It is intended to prevent...Read More |
From Ian: Amb. Alan Baker: Cancel the Durban IV Review Conference In what can only be seen as an amazing act of institutional masochism and hypocrisy by the international community, the upcoming UN General Assembly's opening meetings in September 2021, attended by heads of state and government, will "commemorate" the 20th anniversary of the infamous 2001 Durban conference.1 The 2001 Durban World Conference, aiming to address the struggle against racism, was abused by Muslim and Arab states and anti-Israel non-governmental organizations and became a blatant antisemitic and anti-Israel hate-fest, singling out and lynching Israel in such a manner as to permanently taint the name of the Durban conference. The damage caused by this public condemnation of Israel laid the groundwork for a concerted campaign in the international community to undermine and delegitimize the State of Israel and served as the inspiration for the launching of the infamous BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanction) campaign that continues to be waged against Israel. The UN and its respective High Commissioners for Human Rights have attempted to re-legitimize the Durban process through Review Conferences in 2009 and 2011, which reaffirmed the Durban I conference declarations and plans of action, thereby in effect reaffirming and sanctioning the calls to delegitimize Israel. This process will be repeated soon at the upcoming Durban...Read More |
The Alma Research and Education Center makes a very good pont:
The Taliban had an apparent goal - to regain control of Afghanistan, now it does so with a great deal of American equipment. And that brought me back to Hezbollah that is here across the border. Lebanon is also a failed state. How will the Lebanese army behave the day Hezbollah decides to take over Lebanon officially? Half of the Lebanese army soldiers are Shiites - many of them from Hezbollah's support base... As an Israeli, I am very uncomfortable with apocalyptic predictions. Still, when I look at what is happening in Afghanistan, I am concerned about the ease with which an extremist ideology wins and brings a country into the dark days of oppression of women and the growth of terrorist cells. It's true. While Hamas already controls a defined area, it isn't a state and doesn't want to be (until they take over the West Bank as well.) But Hezbollah has a great deal of control over Lebanon - complete control of South Lebanon and veto control over the government, as well as an army more powerful than the Lebanese army. If Lebanon collapses, it can turn into an Islamist state instantly. And as far as the Shiite/Sunni divide, they might hate each other but they cooperate when it is in their own self-interest. * * * * * *
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The Syrian army has put the area of Daraa al-Balad - with 40,000 residents - under siege since June.
Daraa was where the Syrian revolution started. In 2018, a Russian brokered agreement allowed the rebels to maintain some power while many were forcibly deported to northern Syria. Now Syria is breaking that agreement. Ammar, an activist and journalist living in Daraa who asked not to use his last name, said the situation for civilians was increasingly desperate. "Civilians are trapped in Daraa al-Balad and Daraa's [refugee] camp," he said via an encrypted messaging platform. "Because of the presence of regime forces and pro-Iranian militias near these areas, dozens of families are completely besieged to the extent that they are unable to leave their homes due to sniper fire." "These besieged neighborhoods have also lost access to the only medical point that was working due to a critical lack of medical supplies," he said. Speaking on the international community, Ammar called for immediate action to protect civilians and "prevent the [regime's] military campaign." "The sectarian militias are obstructing agreements in southern Syria and are drastically escalating the military situation," he said. Bakeries have been forced to close. There are no medical corridors for the injured to leave for treatment.
The world doesn't care.
Even though there is an UNRWA-run camp in Deraa, with...Read More |
From Ian: Elliott Abrams: Afghanistan and the Abraham Accords Simply put, Arab states face numerous threats and see their region as one where Iran, Turkey, and Israel are the most powerful nations. They also see a decline in American willingness to use power to protect U.S. interests—and to protect U.S. allies. Witness, for example, the failure of the Biden administration to respond to the Iranian drone attack on the Mercer Street commercial vessel in the Arabian Sea last month, which killed two members of the ship's crew, or the Trump administration's failure to respond when Iranian-backed terrorists attacked the Abqaiq petroleum facility in Saudi Arabia in 2019. What is happening in Afghanistan will deepen the impression among Arab governments that they cannot rely on the United States to protect their security as they used to. So those states have increasingly drawn the conclusion that they have one neighbor who unlike Iran or Turkey poses no threat to them, and who continually displays a firm willingness to use military power against its enemies. That's Israel. Israel in addition has a modern economy based on exceptional high-tech achievements, and maintains not only a close alliance with the United States but working relationships with Russia and China. For the Arabs, then, the Abraham Accords were at long last the victory of self-interest over ideology –and over outmoded versions of Arab nationalism...Read More |
Sunday, August 15 is the date the Abraham Accords were signed and became official -- making this past Sunday the first anniversary of the Accords. Of course, for all that they have accomplished over that one-year period, the Abraham Accords are not the first peace treaty that Israel has ever signed with an Arab country. That distinction belongs to the peace agreement that Israel signed with Egypt in March 1979. Even so, everyone agrees that while the Abraham Accords represents a major breakthrough in the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab signers to the agreement, the peace treaty with Egypt, by contrast, is a cold peace. Yet, we have forgotten just how similar that first peace treaty was supposed to be to the Abraham Accords. According to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, Mar. 26, 1979, art. III.3 The Parties agree that the normal relationship established between them will include full recognition, diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, termination of economic boycotts and discriminatory barriers to the free movement of people and goods, and will guarantee the mutual enjoyment by citizens of the due process of law. [emphasis added] Rael Isaac, in a 1993 article in Commentary Magazine notes the extent to which real normalization and cooperation was planned between the two countries: Under...Read More |
Israel continued to ease restrictions on the Gaza Strip in recent days. Today, Israel informed Gaza authorities that it will allow building materials into Gaza for the first time since the May war, but only for the private sector and humanitarian projects. Similarly, Israel will allow telecommunications equipment for the private sector. Israel is working on a way for Qatar to donate money directly to Gazans through a UN mechanism, after Palestinian banks balked, concerned that they might be sued for terrorist funding. Earlier this week, Israel resumed allowing Gaza merchants and businesspeople - over a thousand a day - to cross into Israel to work out deals for imports and exports, as they did (quietly) before COVID. (Only those with COVID antibodies are allowed to enter.) So tensions should be easing, right? Of course not. Last week the IDF shot down a Hamas drone that flew into Israeli territory. Yesterday, Gaza terror groups shot a rocket towards Israel that was intercepted by Iron Dome, with another falling short in...Read More |
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