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8 Tel Aviv U. Stud. L. 59 (1988)
The Changing Status of the Territories (West Bank and Gaza): From Escrow to Legal Mongrel

handle is hein.journals/telavusl8 and id is 59 raw text is: THE CHANGING STATUS OF THE TERRITORIES (WEST BANK AND GAZA): FROM ESCROW TO LEGAL MONGREL AMNON RUBINSTEIN* Discussion of the legal status of the occupied, or, in Israeli terminology, -administered territories, that were taken by Israel in June 1967, has been determined by changing circumstances. At first, the professional literature dealt mainly with the complex question of the applicability of international law in general, and of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War' in particular. Teachers of constitutional law spent little time on the problems of a region that, in theory, lay outside the jurisdiction of Israeli law. Legal literature on the subject, in and outside of Israel, burgeoned significantly only after a series of petitions to the Israel Supreme Court by residents of the territories.2 With the passage of time, the separation of Israeli territorial jurisdiction from the reality on the other side of the armistice, that is, the green line, has become more and more artificial. The territories - the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - have been incorporated economically into Israeli life. Legally, too, the borderline partitioning Israel proper from the territories, theoretically subject to military government under the international laws of war, has in time become more and more blurred. This article deals with the gradual erosion of this legal partition Professor, Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law; Member of the Knesset. 1. The Convention was signed on August 12, 1949, and Israel ratified it on July 6, 1951. According to this convention, the territories should be considered foreign territory outside the jurisdiction of the Israel sovereign. But this has not been the practice. For example, the statutory provisions as to travels abroad of the President of the State, the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers (See section 22 of Basic Law: The President of the State, S.H. 5724, 118; 18 L.S.LI 111 and section 19 of Basic Law: The Government, S.H. 5728, 226; 22 L.S.I.. 257) have never been applied with respect to the occupied territories. Likewise visits of prime ministers and cabinet ministers to the area held by Israel Defence Forces in South Lebanon was not treated as travel abroad. 2. See, e.g., H.C. 320/72 Hilu v. Israel Government 27(2) P.D. 169 (hereinafter, the Rafiah Approach case); H.C. 337/ 71 The Christian Societyfor the Holy Places v. Minister of Defence 26(1) P.D. 574 (hereinafter, the Christian Society case); H.C. 256/ 72 The Electricity Company for the Jerusalem Region v. Minister of Defence 33(2) P. D. 113 (hereinafter, the Beit El case); H.C. 390/79 Dweikat v. Israel Government 34(1) P.D. 1 (hereinafter, the Elon Moreh case). 59

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