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Revision as of 03:57, 5 April 2002 by Uriyan (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Israel has constructed numerous settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories under Israeli military occupation.
These settlements have been declared to be illegal by the UN Security Council (Resolution 446), and Israel has been asked by that resolution to cease further settlement activity. Due to UN resolutions' advisory status, Israel was not obliged to fulfill this request, and it chose not to.
Israel claims that the territories in question are not claimed by any other country (both Jordan and Egypt withdrawing their claims to these lands as parts of their peace agreements with Israel). Therefore Israel opposes the territories' definition as "occupied", and denies the de-jure applicability of the Geneva Conventions to them.
Israel also points out that in the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians accepted at least the temporary presence of Israeli settlements; therefore the violent attacks carried out by Palestinians against settlements are not only wrong because of settlers' being civilians, but also are in fact breach of a mutual agreement put down in the form of Oslo Accords.
See an unofficial Israeli position paper on this issue.