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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter January 29, 2015

The Legitimating Role of the Israeli High Court of Justice: From Occupation to Segregation

  • Sharon Weill EMAIL logo
From the journal Global Jurist

Abstract

Since the early years of the occupation, Israel has promoted a settlement policy and encouraged Israeli Jewish citizens to live in new communities it established in the OPT. Over the years, the Israeli and Palestinian populations living in separated cities and villages, situated side by side, over the entire Occupied West Bank, have been placed under the jurisdiction of two different sets of laws. The creation of this segregated legal regime in the OPT was indispensable in order to keep the original Palestinian population subordinated to military rule, denied civil rights and any democratic representation, and to carry out the settlements policy of the State of Israel. This article demonstrates through a critical analysis of case law, how the Israeli High Court of Justice, through the selective use (and misuse) of the law of military occupation, not only has legitimatized the creation of a segregation regime in the OPT but also has actively contributed to its formation by providing the State with the necessary legal tools required to design and implement it.

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Prof. John Dugard for his support.

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Published Online: 2015-1-29
Published in Print: 2015-7-1

©2015 by De Gruyter

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