Retired Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, who heads a committee tasked with examining the legality of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), declared on Tuesday that, "According to international law, Israelis have a legal right to settle all of Judea and Samaria, at the very least the lands that Israel controls under agreements with the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, the establishment of Jewish settlements is, in itself, not illegal." The committee, which issued its report on Tuesday, was established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to determine the legal status of communities that were not built on privately-owned Palestinian land but their status was still in doubt due to legal bureaucracy.
Levy wrote that "from an international law perspective, the laws of 'occupation' do not apply to the unique historic and legal circumstances surrounding Israel's decades-long presence in Judea and Samaria." "Likewise, the Fourth Geneva Convention on the transfer of populations does not apply, and wasn't intended to apply, to communities such as those established by Israel in Judea and Samaria." (Israel Hayom)
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