Regarding Israel's Laws Applied inside the Green Line

Regarding Israel's Laws Applied inside the Green Line

The "Right of Return"
1. The Committee should conclude that Israel'sland confiscation laws as implemented - i.e., as selectively applied against Palestinian landowners only to deprive them of their landwithout being equally applied to deprive similarly situated Jewish landowners, in addition to the complete failure to provide due process guarantees for the Palestinian landowners or fair  market value rates of compensation for property so confiscated - inside the 1949 "Green Line," and in particular the Absentees' Property laws, are illegal under international law because they are framed and implemented in a way that discriminates on the basis of racial, ethnic, religious or political criteria (to work exclusively in favor of Jews and exclusively against the interests of Palestinian Arabs), which prima facie violates the ICESCR.

2. According to the foregoing principle, the Committee should conclude that Israel's Nationality Law of 1952 must be annulled or amended (to remove the bar prohibiting the 1948 externally displaced Palestinians from returning to their state of origin, i.e., Israel).

 The "Right of Restitution"
1. The Committee should conclude that Israel'sland confiscation laws as implemented - i.e., as  selectively applied against Palestinian landowners only to deprive them of their land without being equally applied to deprive similarly situated Jewish landowners of their land, in addition to the complete failure to provide due process guarantees for the Palestinian landowners or fair market value rates of compensation for property so confiscated - inside  the 1949 "Green Line," and in particular the Absentees' Property laws, are illegal under international law because they are framed and implemented in a way that discriminates on the basis of racial, ethnic, religious or political criteria (to work exclusively in favor of Jews and exclusively against the interests of Palestinian Arabs), which prima facie violates the ICESCR.

2. According to the foregoing principle, the Committee should conclude that all of Israel's illegal land confiscation laws based on racial, ethnic, religious or political criteria must be repealed or amended (to allow full restitution, as required by international law, of all private property of the 1948 displaced Palestinians which was illegally confiscated from them).

3. Regarding the preceding recommendation, theCommittee should specifically recommend that the official land records and archives of both the government of Israel and the United Nations
Conciliation Commission for Palestine (which was empowered in G.A. Resolution 194 to record, tabulate, monitor and preserve the private property rights of the 1948 group of Palestinians)
(hereinafter referred to as the "UNCCP") should be opened up to the public - and in particular to potential Palestinian claimants seeking to reclaim their property - for inspection and duplication.


Israel's Military Orders Applied in the 1967 Occupied Territories Israel's Temporary Status as Belligeret Occupant Must Immediately Come to an End

1. With regard to the 1967 occupied territories, the Committee should conclude that as Israel can never obtain de jure sovereignty in the 1967 occupied territories under international law, it must accordingly relinquish de facto sovereignty (i.e., its military occupation) there to the group of persons with the priority legal right to that area under international law, i.e., the Palestinian
people, who hold the prior legal right by virtue of their collective right of self-determination in the land covenanted to them in the League of Nations Covenant, which right of selfdetermination is enshrined in Articles 1(1), 1(2) and 1(3) of the ICESCR. Accordingly, the Committee should conclude that Israel's military presence in the occupied territories violates international law, as codified in Articles 1(1), 1(2) and 1(3) of the ICESCR.

Right of Return Opinion Poll - United States
Nearly three-fourths of Americans believe that Palestinian refugees should be able to return to their homes in Israel according to recent opinion poll. 74% said they believe that Palestinians should
be allowed to return to their old homes if they choose; 9.2% said they thought it would be better for the Palestinians to stay where they have relocated; 16.7% are unsure. (National telephone survey of 890 adults by Zogby America. Margin of error of +/- 3.4%)
Source: Reuters/Zogby 23 October 2000
  

Residency
1. According to the foregoing, the Committee should conclude that with cessation of the military occupation and the annulling of Israel's military orders (including those regulating residency), the 1967 group of externally displaced Palestinians would rightfully be allowed to return to their land of birth (and Israel's illegal violation of their "right to return" would cease).

Land Confiscation
1. Similarly, the Committee should conclude that with cessation of the military occupation and the annulling of Israel's military orders (including those under which land and property was illegally confiscated), any and all property illegally confiscated under military orders in the occupied territories should be fully restituted and restored to the rightful, original Palestinian owners (and Israel's violation of their "right to own property free from illegal governmental interference" would cease)