Report # 1
November 2002
Legal Implications
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory, the destruction or seizure of property in Occupied Territories is forbidden, as is collective punishment. Article 47 outlines that Occupying Powers must not make changes to property in occupied territories. Requisition of land in occupied territories is prohibited under Article 52 of the Hague Regulations of 1907, which is a part of customary international law. Occupiers cannot make any changes in status of occupied territories. Israel's Apartheid Wall seizes, destroys and permanently changes the status of Occupied Territories.
The Fourth Geneva Convention states in article 47 that “protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any case or in any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the present Convention by any change introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory.”
International law prohibits the annexation of land, the incorporation of land under a state's territory by means of conquest or acquisition of territory by force. Moreover, any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property is prohibited, except where it is “rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”
Israeli sources say that Israel's Apartheid Wall is being built for “security purposes,” however, the destruction and confiscation of land effectively punishes the entire population, in particular those whose homes and land have been destroyed and land permanently confiscated. International humanitarian law prohibits collective penalties.
The Palestinian people’s Right to Property, Right to Work, Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, and Right to Freedom of Movement, as guaranteed by international law, are all in violation.
Apartheid
The form of apartheid Israel applies against Palestinians fulfils all elements of the crime of apartheid as defined under the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1976), which expressly states that the crime of apartheid “shall include similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practiced in southern Africa'”(art.2).
As stated in a report on the Apartheid Wall by the Palestinian human rights organization LAW:
“The Apartheid Convention declares the 'crime of apartheid' to be a crime against humanity and punishable by State Parties to the Convention, or by an international penal tribunal having jurisdiction over state parties that accept its jurisdiction. It sets out the elements that comprise the crime of apartheid and the liabilities for perpetrating the crime….’Apartheid’ has been legally defined by a number of international treaties as a war crime and crime against humanity, with a broader meaning and applicability, including under Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions; the International Criminal Court Statute 1998, and the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid 1973.
“These treaties legally define ‘apartheid’ as ‘a system of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group … over another … and systematically oppressing them’. The Apartheid Convention comprehensively lists examples of inhuman acts designed to establish and maintain domination and systematic oppression.
“Israeli actions/policies fulfil these elements including: Denial of the right to life and liberty of person; Murder; Infliction of serious bodily or mental harm, by infringement of their freedom or dignity, or by subjecting them to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; By arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment; Deliberate imposition of living conditions calculated to cause a group their physical destruction in whole or in part; Legislative or other measures calculated to prevent a group from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group denying their basic human rights and freedoms (including Right to work; Right to form recognised trade unions; Right to education; Right to leave and to return to their country; Right to nationality; Right to freedom of movement and residence; Right to freedom of opinion and expression; Right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association); Measures (including legislative) designed to divide the population along racial lines by: Creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group, Prohibition of mixed marriages, and Expropriation of landed property; Exploitation of labour; Persecution of organisations and persons by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms because they oppose apartheid.”
The Apartheid Wall is designed to divide the population along racial lines by creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the
members of a racial group; separation of Palestinian families/communities; controls on freedom of movement through the system of
ID cards, curfews and closures; and the expropriation of landed property.
Section contributor: LAW
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