RE: Who Are The Palestinians? Part 2
⁜→ toomuchtime_, et al,
Who has control over Area "C"?
The right to self-determination has become one of the most complex issues for U.S. foreign policymakers and the international community at large. Confusion over the issue stems not so much from whether there exists a right to self-determination, which is included in many international human rights documents, but from the failure of those documents to define exactly who is entitled to claim this right—a group, people, or a nation—and what exactly the right confers. At the same time, the international system, particularly in the post–World War II era, has steadfastly defended the inviolability of existing nation-states’ borders, regardless of how and when they were determined.
The right of self determination has nothing to do with declaring whatever land you want belongs to you, which is what the PA applying sovereignty to area C is.
(COMMENT)
Applying sovereignty to Area "C" does not alter the "land" on which you
(or anyone) want to belong. You can give it any name you want, → to the ground you stand on → it does not change with the establishment of sovereignty. If you move from the West Bank to Jordan, you are in transit between two sovereign territories. But again, the land that you belong to does not change on the basis of your movement. I can travel to Canada
(all things being equal), but that does not change the fact that I belong to the land of my home in Ohio. IF by agreement between the US and Canada, Canada gains sovereignty over Ohio, → again the "land" I belong to → does not change.
Self-determination became officially sanctioned after 1945 when it was included in the United Nations Charter, though it applied to existing states, not to peoples or national groups. However, self-determination quickly evolved from a principle toa right, especially after the 1960 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Peoples, when the term came to denote decolonization. Still, self-determination applied to territories and not to peoples.
Furthermore, without a democratic process, it is impossible for people to exercise the right of self-determination.
(COMMENT)
Area "C" was designated in accordance with an agreement between the Israeli Government and the PalestineLiberation Organization (PLO). At that time, both parties agreed that Area "C" would be under full Israeli civil and security control. That means that Area "C" had never been under Arab Palestinian control. Area "C" was taken and occupied by the Israelis while in pursuit of retreating Forces of the Arab Legion. At that time, the West Bank was sovereign territory of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Israel did not occupy Arab Palestinian territory, but rather it occupied Jordanian.
State Territory and Territorial Sovereignty said:
Section 2: Acquisition of Territory [12]
The international rules related to territorial sovereignty are rooted in the Roman Law provisions governing ownership and possession. In addition, the classification of the different modes of acquiring territory is a direct descendant of the Roman rules dealing with property.
[13]
The territory is the space within which the State exercises sovereign authority. Title to territory is acquired either through the claim of land not previously owned (
terra nullius) or through the transfer of title from one State to another.
[14] Title acquired in the first category is called the original title, while in the second category is called a derivative title. Modes of the original acquisition of territory include occupation, prescription, and accretion. Derivative modes include cession (voluntary or forcible), and conquest and annexation. All these modes are dealt with in the following.
(1)
Occupation
Occupation is an original mode of acquisition by a State of a title to a territory. It implies the establishment of sovereignty over a territory not under the authority of any other State (
terra nullius) whether newly discovered or abandoned by the State formerly in control (unlikely to occur).
[15]
For the title acquired through occupation to be final and valid under International Law, the presence and control of a State over the concerned territory must be effective.
[16] Effectiveness requires on the part of the Claimant State two elements: an intention or will to act as sovereign, and the adequate exercise of sovereignty. Intention may be inferred from all the facts, although sometimes it may be formally expressed in official notifications to other States. Adequate exercise of sovereignty must be peaceful, real, and continuous. This element of physical assumption may be manifested by an explicit or symbolic act by legislative or administrative measures affecting the claimed territory, or by treaties with other States recognizing the sovereignty of the Claimant State over the particular territory or demarcating boundaries.
Occupation was often preceded by discovery that is the realization of the existence of a particular piece of land. In the early period of European discovery, in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, the mere realization or sighting was sufficient to constitute title to territory. As time passed, something more was required and this took the form of symbolic act of taking possession, whether by raising of flags or by formal declarations. By the Eighteenth Century, the effective control came to be required together with discovery to constitute title to territory.
[17]
[7] Text in 15 U.N.T.S. 295.
[8] Text in 480 U.N.T.S. 43.
[9] Text in 610 U.N.T.S. 205.
[10] Text in 21 I.L.M. (1982), 1261.
[11] Text in 402 U.N.T.S. 71.
[12] See generally Brownlie, pp. 126-57; and Shaw, pp. 417-43.
[13] See Shaw, p. 412.
[14] Bledsoe & Boczek, pp. 155-6.
[15] Bledsoe & Boczek, p. 149; and Shaw, p. 424.
[16] See Shaw, pp. 424 and 432-6; Brownlie, pp. 133-6.
[17] See Shaw, pp. 425-6
This has been presented in a number of ways. But I intentionally present this information in this form because
(like most of the views I present on this topic set) → from an Arab League perspective
(expressed by Dr. Walid Abdulrahim Professor of Law).
...........
Most Respectfully,
R
