An identical process of rapid erosion is occurring in Judea and Samaria: thus, the Samarian mountains were supposed to be a strategic asset that shields the coastal plain, and hence to remain under IDF control (the Alon Plan) under any circumstances. Yet the mountain spine was long ago handed over to Arab control. Likewise the Trans-Samaria Highway, "strategic road no. 1 in Israel" and the main transportation artery for troops and weapons in the event of a war to the east, has been relinquished.

With the anticipated announcement of the establishment of a Palestinian state on September 13, a basic change will occur in the status of the "Palestinian Authority" as it moves from the unclear and controversial status of an "Authority" to a status well defined in international law, that of a sovereign entity. Since the declaration will include all of the territories up to the Green Line, and since the entire world will recognize the Palestinian state according to these borders (includ-

Since 1997, Egypt (the leader of the Arab states in this regard) has sought to apply the Fourth Geneva Convention to Israel so as to designate it a criminal state.

Indeed, sovereignty entails the physical control of territory, and Israel, whose army will hold parts of the territories of the Palestinian state, will be able to claim that Palestinian sovereignty over Yesha is therefore incomplete. Such a formal claim, however, will be devoid of value, since Israel will not have the means (or will) to enforce it and thereby run the risk of sanctions by the international community and war with the Arab world.

The Fourth Geneva Convention on Rules of War was established by the international community in 1949 in response to the crimes of the Nazis in the Second World War. The Convention sets forth a long list of prohibitions that apply to the occupier (torture, collective punishment, expulsion), the infraction of which is defined as "a crime against humanity." However, the gravest prohibition --and it is the raison d'etre of the Convention-- is against the occupying aggressor's settlement of its population in the occupied territories. The Germans, of course, in the framework of the Nazi principle of Lebensraum, settled many territories that they occupied with German population. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, a state that violates this prohibition is defined as a "criminal state" and its settlers as "war criminals" who are liable to severe sanctions.

Since 1997, Egypt (the leader of the Arab states in this regard) has sought to apply the Fourth Geneva Convention to Israel so as to designate it a criminal state. In fact, the UN General Assembly has passed a number of anti-Israel resolutions on this matter. In February 1999, under pressure by the Egyptian ambassador, the Assembly passed a resolution calling for a special session of the UN Human Rights Committee, a body that enjoys great prestige and includes fifty-three states, to discuss Israel's violations of the Convention.

And indeed, on April 27, 1999, in its annual meeting in Geneva, the Human Rights Committee adopted a resolution calling for the self-determination of the Palestinian people on the basis of UN Resolution 181 of November 1947 (the Partition Resolution), and demanding that Israel (under threat of sanctions) honor UN Resolution 194 of December 1948 on the 1948 refugees' right of return to their homes.

It is noteworthy that the delegitimization of Israel within the borders of June 4, 1967 came hand in hand with the demand --most likely ultimatum-- for the return of the '48 refugees to their homes within the Green Line. The Barak government has already, of course, in the framework of a "gesture to the Palestinians," agreed to absorb some of the refugees (on the humanitarian basis of family unification) within the borders of the state of Israel.

So long as the status of the territories of Yesha was in doubt within the framework of the "peace process," Israel adhered to its claim of nonsovereignty. Hence there was no unequivocal demand upon the state to remove its army and population from these territories, for such a demand could only have come from a sovereign entity. That, however, is what the Palestinian state will be as of September 13, 2000.

The demand by the government of the Palestinian state that Israel withdraw its army and citizens from its sovereign territory will be anchored in international law and will receive the sweeping support of the international community. Furthermore, as a member of the Arab League, the Palestinian state will receive the automatic backing of all twenty-one states of the League with Egypt at the head, all of them having signed an agreement on military cooperation against Israel. (It should be recalled that Egypt at Camp David did not disassociate itself from the defense alliance of the states of the League, which renders its agreement with Israel empty verbiage since the alliance takes precedence over the agreement with Israel.)

There can be no doubt that under heavy international pressure on the one hand and, on the other,

[(Continued on p.5)]

Outpost               - 4 -               August-September 2000