I.P.O. RESEARCH PAPERS
THE PALESTINE PROBLEM IN THE FRAMEWORK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
as the Crucial Issue of a Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli
presented at the international conference
organized by the Arab Cause Solidarity Committee
(Madrid, 30 September – 1 October 2000)
C o n t e n t s
(I) Legal Rights versus Realpolitik: The History of the Palestine Problem and the Changing Role of the United Nations
(II) Legal Evaluation of the "Peace Agreements" since the Gulf War
Elements of a Solution: The Peace Process and the Principle of
© 2000 by Hans Köchler. All rights reserved.
right to self-determination is an inalienable right enjoyed by all peoples
indiscriminately. It has been confirmed as such in Art. 1 (2) of the United
Nations Charter and in numerous other international documents. The many
resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly and the establishment of the UN
“Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People” by the Assembly in 1975
are clear proof of the general recognition of this right in regard to the
people of Palestine.
The Palestinians have enjoyed this right – as a natural right – not just
since the time after the Second World War, but since a time well before the
collapse of the 19th century order in the course of the First World
War. As rightly stated by the eminent Palestinian scholar Henry Cattan, the
Palestinians already existed as a distinct Arab people with inalienable rights
during the Ottoman rule over Palestine.
According to Article 22 (4) of the Covenant of the League of Nations, at the
end of World War I and in the course of the detachment of Palestine from the
Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian people was seen as a community whose existence
as an independent nation could be “provisionally recognized.”
The drafters of the Covenant of the League of Nations based their legal notion
of the mandate, especially in
regard to the territories formerly under Turkish rule, on the assumption of
national sovereignty of peoples “not yet able to stand by themselves”
(Art. 22 ).
must be said, however, that the statute of the League of Nations Mandate for
Palestine (1922) was itself in contradiction to the provisions of Art. 22 of
the League’s Covenant insofar as it incorporated – in the Preamble and in
Articles 2, 4, 6 and 7 – the basic provisions of the Balfour Declaration.
The Mandate for Palestine in itself violated letter and spirit of Art. 22 of
the League’s Covenant, which evokes (in Par. 1), in connection with the
protection of the rights of peoples under the Mandate, a “sacred trust of
the basis of this legal concept, national Palestinian sovereignty was not
annulled when Britain was entrusted by the League of Nations with the
mandate over Palestine.
Furthermore, the mandate over Palestine – as the mandates over Syria,
Lebanon, Iraq and Transjordan – fell into category (A) according to the
classification of the League of Nations. This category, in distinction from
the categories (B) and (C), implied the expectation of early independence.
Henry Cattan rightly concludes: “The legal effect under international law of
the detachment of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire and of recognition of its
people as an independent nation was to make of this country a separate and
All the legal assumptions relating to the international status of Palestine
were based on the principle according to which sovereignty over a mandated
territory lies in its inhabitants.
This legal notion has also been confirmed in a United Nations report on the
origins of the Palestine problem where it is stated that the sovereignty of
Palestine (having been classified as falling under a category “A” Mandate)
“could not be alienated either by the Mandatory Power or by the League.”
we take into consideration these basic legal facts of Palestinian sovereignty
since the end of the Ottoman rule it is obvious that the Palestinians were
prevented from exercising their sovereignty upon the termination of the
British Mandate after World War II and have been prevented from exercising
this fundamental and inalienable right ever since. United Nations General
Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 denied the most fundamental
national right to the Palestinian people – by providing for the partition of
Palestine into two states on the basis of vague ethnic assumptions and
discriminatory policies along the lines of the legally invalid “Balfour
Declaration” and its incorporation into the League of Nations’ Mandate.
The Palestinians had never been consulted in this process; new political
structures had de facto been
imposed on them. In strictly legal terms, the General Assembly had no
authority to divest the Palestinians of their sovereignty over the areas of
Palestine which it allocated to the Jewish state.
United Nations Organization, whether represented by the General Assembly, the
Security Council or the International Court of Justice, has no legal
competence to abrogate the sovereignty of whichever people over its land.
The term “inalienable rights” means
what it says. It relates to the body of jus
cogens of general international law. The world organization itself is not
above the law. Ian Brownly rightly explains the dubious legal nature of the
partition resolution of the General Assembly: “It is doubtful if the United
Nations has a ‘capacity to convey title,’ inter
alia because the Organization cannot assume the role of territorial
sovereign: in spite of the principle of implied powers the Organization is not
a state and the General Assembly only has a power of recommendation. Thus the
resolution of 1947 containing a partition plan for Palestine was probably ultra
Pitman B. Potter concluded in his legal analysis of 1948: “The United
Nations has no right to dictate a solution in Palestine unless a basis for
such authority can be worked out such as has not been done thus far.” He
refers to one of the basic shortcomings of the United Nations Organization,
namely the “avoidance of international law in dealing with international
problems manifested only too often in the history of Great Power behavior in
the United Nations.”
partition resolution could only be based on Art. 14 of the Charter, which
merely provides that “the General Assembly may recommend
measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation ... which it deems
likely to impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations
...” (emphasis by the author). This formulation definitely does not convey
any authority to the General Assembly to create sovereign entities or to deny
sovereign rights to whichever nation. Sub-Committee 2 of the General
Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on
the Palestine Question acknowledged this lack of competence, particularly in
regard to the provisions of Chapter XII of the Charter.
Sub-Committee stated that “the
General Assembly is not competent to recommend, still less to enforce any
solution other than the recognition of the independence of Palestine” and
that “the settlement of the future government of Palestine is a matter
solely for the people of Palestine ...” The Sub-Committee, in its report to
the Ad Hoc Committee, further
stated that “partition involves the alienation of territory and the
destruction of the integrity of the State of Palestine. The United Nations
cannot make a disposition or alienation of territory, nor can it deprive the
majority of the people of Palestine of their territory and transfer it to the
exclusive use of a minority in the country ...”
24 November 1947 the General Assembly, acting as the Ad
Hoc Committee on Palestine, rejected – by the narrow margin of
21 to 20 votes – a draft resolution presented by Sub-Committee 2 to
seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on this
A legal evaluation, in the statutory framework of the United Nations, of the fait
accompli created by the partition resolution has, therefore, been
prevented from the very beginning of the Palestine conflict.
problematic legal nature of the General Assembly’s partition resolution was
further expounded by the leading legal theorist of the time, Hans Kelsen. In
his comprehensive analysis of the competence of the General Assembly,
Kelsen refers to the arguments brought forward in the General Assembly itself
that this body, according to the Charter, can only make recommendations. He
states, in regard to the partition resolution, that “[t]hese
arguments are, from a strictly legal point, correct.”
The resolution creating two states in Palestine, for that reason, was not
binding upon member states because recommendations, in Kelsen’s words, “by
their very nature, do not constitute a legal obligation to behave in
conformity with them.”
Kelsen clearly states, furthermore, that the General Assembly’s decision was
ultra vires: “To decide that the
United Nations shall administer a territory for the purpose to establish on it
two new states is hardly within the competence of the General Assembly or any
other organ of the United Nations."
Similarly, Clyde Eagleton, U.S. expert of United Nations law, stated in no
uncertain terms: “It is clear to any student of the Charter that a
resolution of the General Assembly, such as that for the partition of
Palestine, is no more than a recommendation, and that it can have no
legally binding effect upon any state whatsoever.”
partition resolution of the General Assembly violates international law in
another important respect. It contradicts the principle of the inadmissibility
of the acquisition of territory by war. As Quincy Wright explains in his legal
analysis of the Palestine problem, the General Assembly resolution
“partitioning Palestine and establishing the state of Israel as demanded by
Zionists is difficult to reconcile with this principle. Local hostilities
between Zionist and Arab forces deprived the ‘peoples’ in the mandated
territory of rights explicitly protected by the Mandate and Article 80 of the
Charter without their consent.”
Art. 80 (1) – in connection with Art. 77, Par. 1 (a) – of the UN Charter
explicitly states that, in regard to a mandated territory, the United Nations
provisions on trusteeship must not be interpreted in a way that could “alter
in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or peoples” under the
regime of a mandate. The General Assembly, for that reason, by resolution 181
(II) violated the provisions of the very Charter on the basis of which it was
supposed to act. The territory of Palestine,
falling (in 1945) under the provisions of Art. 77, Par. 1 (a), unlike other
territories, was never brought
under the trusteeship regime of the United Nations that would ultimately have
led, in conformity with Art. 76 (b), to Palestinian independence. Instead, the
General Assembly stepped in and partitioned a territory whose status, as
stipulated in Art. 80 (1), should not have been altered before having been
brought under an internationally administered and controlled trusteeship
regime as first step to national independence.
far as the occupation of additional territories in excess of those allocated
– though without sufficient authority – by the General Assembly in 1947 is
concerned, the universally recognized principle of the inadmissibility of the
acquisition of territory by force applies. The general principle of law "ex
injuria jus non oritur" is relevant in this context. A claim to a
territorial title which originates in an illegal act is invalid. This relates
to the Palestinian territories seized in 1948 as well as to those occupied in
Israel’s status in those territories is that of a “belligerent
occupant.” All unilateral measures undertaken by the occupying power to
change the status of the territories – including the annexation of Jerusalem
– are null and void. Since 1967, the General Assembly has confirmed, on
numerous occasions, the illegality of the occupation and the Palestinian
people’s right to self-determination. Although non-binding in their legal
nature, these resolutions demonstrate not
only the moral but the legal conviction of the international community and
set out the guidelines for a just and lasting settlement of the problem on the
basis of the right to self-determination. This right is naturally claimed by
the Palestinians themselves in Art. 3 of the Palestinian
National Charter (adopted by the Palestine National Council in 1968):
“The Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and
have the right to determine their destiny after achieving the liberation of
their country in accordance with their wishes and entirely of their own accord
Assembly resolution 3236 (XXII) of 22 November 1974 reaffirmed the
“inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in Palestine including (a) the
right of self-determination without external interference, (b) the right to
national independence and sovereignty.” This right was reconfirmed in
General Assembly resolution 169 A (XXXV) of 15 December 1980, which stated
that just and lasting peace in the Middle East cannot be established without
the attainment of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. The right
to self-determination has been spelled out very clearly and consistently in
all General Assembly resolutions on Palestine since the time after the 1967
It is an irony of history that the General Assembly, in 1947, itself has
created the problem by adopting a resolution which was based on the negation
of that very principle. It should be noted, however, that the General Assembly
membership in 1947 was not at all representative of the peoples of the world
(at a time when the majority of the present members did not exist as sovereign
entities) and that the colonial powers of the time completely dominated the
decision-making process. There definitely was – apart from the lack of
legitimacy of the partition resolution in terms of international law – a
lack of political legitimacy of a
body that represented only a minority of the peoples of the world.
political considerations led the General Assembly to transgress its authority
in 1947 and similar considerations and pressures of realpolitik – more than
forty years later – led to the conclusion of the so-called Oslo Agreements,
that was brought about by a new power balance as a result of the end of the
Cold War and the outcome of Gulf War II – a power balance that from the
outset has been detrimental to Palestinian rights.
decisive factor determining the outcome of the Gulf crisis in 1991 was the
collapse of the Soviet bloc, an event which deprived the Arab world of its
freedom of action in the international arena. The cease-fire resolution of
1991 created the framework for a “pacification” of the region by diktat
– in the Gulf region itself and in the Middle Eastern region in general. The
Madrid “Peace Process,” the Oslo accords of 1993 and 1995, and the many
follow-up agreements and memoranda signed thereafter must be seen in this
context. They can only be understood in a political rather than in a legal
framework as they were and continue to be concluded in a situation where an
independent Arab position in world politics has completely vanished and the
Palestinians have lost even the narrow margin of political action they had
enjoyed earlier – through the de
facto recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as their sole
legitimate representative – in the Arab world and within the United Nations.
is noteworthy that the Oslo accords do not take into account the notion of
Palestinian sovereignty, i.e. the right
to self-determination. An unbiased legal observer will have to admit that
all matters that relate to state sovereignty are carefully excluded from the
agreements. It is consistent with this approach that both agreements consider
Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) as terms of reference
for a permanent settlement. These resolutions do not deal at all with the
Palestinian question but only with the question of troop withdrawal from
occupied territories. In resolution 242, Par. 2 (b) the Palestine question is
only indirectly referred to in the acknowledgment of the need for a “just
settlement of the refugee problem.” In such a political-normative context,
it is no wonder that no reference is made in the Oslo accords to those General
Assembly resolutions explicitly acknowledging the Palestinian right to
self-determination. Therefore, the Palestinian negotiators should not be
surprised about the recent interpretation of resolution 242 by the
Attorney-General of Israel.
Declaration of Principles on Interim
Self-Government Arrangements of 13 September 1993 (Oslo I) explicitly
excludes external security matters (Art. VIII)
and international relations (Annex II) from the areas of Palestinian
authority. As another sign of the denial of sovereignty to the Palestinian
"caretaker authority," the "authority of Israel and of the
Israeli military government in the West Bank to exercise its powers and
responsibilities in criminal matters" is upheld in the
Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities of 29
The “interdiction” of foreign relations is confirmed in Art. IX (Powers
and Responsibilities of the Council), Par. 5 (a) of the Palestinian-Israeli
Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of 28 September 1995
(Oslo II) which states that the Palestinian authority (the “Council”)
“will not have powers and responsibilities in the sphere of foreign
relations.” This exclusion is also obvious in the earlier Agreement
on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area concluded in Cairo on 4 May 1994.
it comes to the essentials of the political status of the Palestinians under
the two agreements, only limited
self-rule is "granted" within the framework of de
facto Israeli sovereignty over the territories concerned. Israeli
supremacy is being upheld in the strict political and legal sense. The Oslo
agreements deliberately seem to avoid any explicit reference to Palestinian
self-determination, they speak vaguely of a recognition of “mutual
legitimate and political rights” between Israel and the Palestinians. This
leaves no room for the notion of national sovereignty of the Palestinian
people. The concept of self-government underlying these agreements seems to
fit better into the framework of colonial rule or of the earlier Mandate –
or trusteeship according to UN regulations in Articles 86ff. of the Charter
– than into the category of relations between sovereign entities as
political partners on an equal level. The underlying philosophy seems to be
that of tutelage with Israel as
self-designated “trustee” who retains the ultimate authority.
one of the basic areas of a people's independence, this quasi-colonial reality
is demonstrated by the fact that, as explained by a U.S. based advocacy group,
the "advent of peace negotiations did nothing to loosen Israel's monopoly
over water resources in the region. Israel siphons off for its exclusive use
over 80% of the water located in aquifers in the West Bank."
reality of Palestinian dependence and Israeli supremacy is not changed but
gets even more accentuated in the more or less technical agreements concluded
upon later, in particular the Wye River
Memorandum of 23 October 1998 and the Sharm
El-Sheikh Memorandum on Implementation Timeline of Outstanding Commitments of
Agreements Signed and the Resumption of Permanent Status Negotiations of 4
September 1999. Both memoranda, in their preambles, explicitly refer to the
legal framework of the earlier Oslo agreements, in particular to the
"Interim Agreement" of 28 September 1995 (Oslo II). The technical
arrangements contained in these two memoranda make the fact of a "rule on
behalf and under the supervision of Israeli authorities" even more
obvious. Art. 8 (Security), Par. 2, items 3 and 4 of the Sharm El-Sheikh
Memorandum are a vivid illustration of this reality. Those provisions oblige
the Palestinian Authority to forward "the list of Palestinian policemen
to the Israeli Side" and to accept "the review of the list by the
Monitoring and Steering Committee" that includes, of course,
representatives of the Israeli government. It is noteworthy that the Sharm
El-Sheikh Memorandum, in addition to the "trilateral" structure of
the Wye River Memorandum (including the US as a "witness"
signatory), was "witnessed" and co-signed, similar to other
Palestinian-Israeli agreements, by the heads of state of Egypt and Jordan thus
symbolizing certain Arab governments' (not peoples') acceptance of a legal
framework in which Palestinian sovereignty is openly negated and a kind of
trusteeship regime over Palestine is being executed.
intentions of maintaining supremacy over Palestine as a whole and of
ignoring Palestinian sovereignty have become even more clear in the
legal opinion given (in June 2000) by the Israeli Attorney-General, Eliyakim
Rubinstein. According to his ruling, Security Council resolution 242 (which
calls upon Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967) "was not
intended to be applicable to the Palestinian entity because at the time it was
passed no such entity existed and the matter of its founding wasn't on the
This position openly contradicts the so-called Oslo consensus according to
which resolution 242 was declared as basis for reaching a permanent settlement
of the Palestine problem. This recent development is further proof of the
justification of our concern (expressed above) about the deliberate vagueness
of resolution 242 and its openness to arbitrary interpretation according to
the interests and strategic considerations of the occupying power.
political reality also corresponds to the impression a visitor receives who
travels with open eyes through the pockets of territory presently administered
by the “Palestinian National Authority.” Political and legal authority –
in the present Oslo-framework – is ultimately being exercised by the
Palestinians on behalf of the
occupying power. A comparison to the homeland-concept
of the earlier apartheid era in
South Africa is definitely not too far-fetched. More than a decade ago, Alfred Lilienthal, the famous Jewish-American critic of Israeli policies vis-à-vis
the Palestinians, characterized the futility of such an undertaking in
prophetic words: “Ambiguous assurances of autonomy under alien supervision
and control in another Bantustan with the remote hope of the exercise of
self-determination after five years [are]
not a substitute for the Palestinian claim to nationhood in a national
sovereign state of their own.”
In the present post-Oslo constellation, "Palestinians exercise self-rule
in a patchwork of discontinuous territories, surrounded by large swathes of
In any case, because of the de facto
exclusion of Palestinian sovereignty, the creation of a Palestinian
“national” authority in the framework of the Oslo agreements can only be a
one aspires to a just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question, one
has to get away from the framework of tutelage or colonial hegemony so as to
acknowledge Palestinian sovereignty on the basis of Arab national rights as
they were expounded in the course of the decolonization process.
On the political side, this excludes the propagation of the idea of permanent
Jewish settlements as sovereign Israeli entities on Palestinian soil. Such
enclaves – complicated as they are in terms of international law – will
only be the source of future political conflicts and armed confrontations and
will permanently prevent a peaceful settlement in political and legal terms as
sovereign entity of a future state of Palestine, as subject of international
law, can definitely not emanate from the present construction of a Palestinian
self-rule authority (“Palestinian National Authority”) that, by its very
definition in the Oslo accords, is not in charge of the core areas of state
sovereignty and remains under the ultimate control of the occupying power.
International political (collective) rights, in terms of self-determination
and sovereignty, can never be “granted” by the occupying power or by a
group of states guaranteeing whichever “peace agreement.” Sovereignty is
an inalienable collective right that is exercised by free decision of each
people. The basis of a future statehood can only be a genuine expression of
the political will of the Palestinian people. This implies that the legitimate
political and legal framework for Palestinian independence will consist in a general
referendum and in resolutions of the Palestine National Council (PNC)
representing the Palestinian people as a whole (and not just the populations
in splintered territories partially put under Palestinian administration by
the occupying power).
far as the political aspects are concerned, it is of utmost importance that
one learns the lessons of the intifadah
– and of the expressions of democratic popular resistance since the
establishment of so-called autonomy rule until the present day –, if one is
genuinely interested in a permanent settlement of the Palestinian question.
The dignity and self-respect of a people are decisive factors for the peaceful
settlement of any conflict between rival national movements. The concept of limited
sovereignty (as it is de facto
incorporated in the Oslo agreements) is not compatible with the dignity of a
people as a distinct national community. A fictitious quasi-sovereignty
did not work in the case of South African “homelands” – and there is no
evidence that this concept would contribute to the “pacification” of
aspect of the political solution of the Palestine question has to be
considered as well. It is the conditio
sine qua non for a lasting settlement that a “compromise” in regard to
the inalienable rights of a people under foreign occupation must not be
imposed by a biased mediator (such as the United States in the case of
Palestine). In that regard, it will be of utmost importance to strengthen the
role of the European Union that may more credibly act as an “honest
broker” than a superpower that considers the occupying power in question its
the post-Gulf War era – characterized by the political paralysis of the Arab
world – outside parties may be tempted to exploit the temporary power vacuum
in the region. However, if one really wants to promote the cause of a
long-term settlement, i.e. of genuine
peace, it is a basic maxim of political wisdom not to exploit one
party’s political weakness that has come about as a result of armed
conflict. The present situation of the Arab world since 1991 has undoubtedly
constituted a big temptation for outside powers, on top of them the United
States and the region’s former colonial powers, to impose a solution upon
the weaker party to the dispute in favour of the stronger one, the latter
being a close strategic ally of those outside powers. Re-colonization of the
Arab world, under the auspices of a so-called “New World Order” as it was
prematurely declared by President George Bush immediately after Gulf War II,
will not solve any of the political problems in the region. Time and again in
the history of international conflicts, such a strategy has been proven
shortsighted and counterproductive.
neo-colonial policy of divide et impera
to which the Arab and Muslim world is presently being subjected will only
increase the tensions in the region and may lead to major conflict and
upheaval in a not too distant future. A pax
Americana exclusively serving the interests of one party to the conflict
is going to destabilize the whole political system in the Middle East on a
long-term basis. The economic sanctions imposed on Arab countries, in
particular the comprehensive sanctions on Iraq, are evidence of this
shortsighted strategy. In sharp contrast to the swift action against Arab
states, no coercive measures were ever contemplated for Israeli transgressions
of international law in Palestine
or for Israel's occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and, until earlier this
year, of Southern Lebanon. It will be a tragic mistake if the international
community upholds the illusion that lasting peace in Palestine can be
established in a context in which the Palestinian people, along with other
peoples in the Arab world that were or still are subjected to collective
punishment in the form of economic sanctions (whether unilateral or
is led to believe that it has to pay the price for the establishment of a pax
Americana that favours the occupying power. It is a particular historical
irony in the present global constellation that the process of imposing the
will of outside powers upon the peoples of the region, foremost the
Palestinians, is being justified by the claim to establish the rule of law and
to safeguard the basic human rights of the peoples concerned.
the long run, the Arab world may not be ready to accept the eternalization of
Israeli sovereignty in Palestine (with limited self-rule for the Palestinians
in isolated pockets of territory) while at the same time an Arab core state
such as Iraq is forcefully taken out of the Middle Eastern power equation by
measures of a punitive economic embargo. Such a policy of double standards (as
it is inevitably perceived of by practically all Arabs and Muslims, i.e. by
public opinion, not necessarily by governments) will undermine all future
mediation efforts. The imposition of a homeland-style "permanent
settlement" of the Palestine problem, in addition to the confrontationist
policies vis-à-vis other Arab and Muslim countries, may be one step too many
in the re-colonization strategy targeting the Arab and Muslim Middle East. It
may lead to large-scale destabilization in the region that will directly
affect the security of Europe. The new defense doctrine of NATO (providing for
so-called "out-of-area operations") will bring no remedy to this
A unique opportunity will be missed by the Europeans in the present historical
constellation if the European Union continues to serve as an annex to U.S.
strategy and if it accepts the method of imposing
peace in Palestine in favour of only one party to the conflict. Europe should
gradually emancipate herself from the role of politically impotent paymaster
for the implementation of projects and strategies defined by the United
States. In regard to the Palestinian problem, Europe’s financial
engagement in the framework of the U.S.-sponsored “peace process” must be
complemented by an adequate political
the continued domination over the Arabs through the neo-colonialist policies
of divide et impera – by means of
sanctions and other political dictates – may lead the region closer to a
major conflict, the establishment of a truly sovereign Arab entity in
Palestine (including Jerusalem) could be the decisive factor in securing a
lasting order of peace in the entire region. The settlement of the Palestinian
question on the basis of real
self-determination (not merely Israeli-sponsored "self-rule" over
isolated pockets of territory) could be the catalyst of a “new order” of
co-operation and partnership guaranteeing equal rights to the Arab world and
its neighbours. Though this may sound like a rather idealistic assumption at
the present moment, there is no alternative to an otherwise bleak outlook of
confrontation and economic stagnation in the whole region. No "Final
Status Agreement" will be effective and enforceable vis-à-vis the people
of Palestine if this basic wisdom is ignored. There is no alternative to the
unequivocal recognition of Palestinian sovereignty if one honestly upholds the
cause of peace in Palestine (as we tried to explain in legal
and political terms at the same
It is exactly for this reason that a new constitutional framework has to be created that goes beyond the legal notions of the Oslo agreements. Negotiations on such a framework should be facilitated by the international community as represented by the United Nations. Such a role can never be played by the one superpower with major strategic interests in the region. To sum it up: talking about peace or a “peace process” without at the same time fully acknowledging the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination amounts to empty rhetoric. All political measures for a future settlement – that is referred to as "final status" in the many "trilateral" talks between Israel, the United States, and the Palestinians – have to take into account this basic legal principle.
 Resolution 3376 (XXX) of 10 November 1975.
 For a comprehensive analysis of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination see Roberto Mesa, “Les fondements historiques et juridiques du droit à l’auto-détermination du peuple palestinien” in Hans Koechler (ed.), The Legal Aspects of the Palestine Problem with Special Regard to the Question of Jerusalem. Studies in International Relations, IV. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 1981, pp. 67-97.
 The Solution of the Palestine Refugee Problem. Studies in International Relations, VI. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 1982, pp. 15ff. For an historical overview of the Palestine problem see Henry Cattan, The Palestine Question. London, New York, Sydney: Croom Helm, 1988.
See the exact wording of Art. 22 (4):
communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a stage of
development where their existence as independent nations can be
provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice
and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand
 See Hessel Duncan Hall, Mandates, Dependencies and Trusteeship. Studies in the Administration of International Law and Organization, no. 9. Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1948, p. 80.
 For a comprehensive analysis of the conditions in Palestine under the British Mandate see Izzat Tannous, The Palestinians. A Detailed Documented Eyewitness History of Palestine under British Mandate. London: I.G.T. Company, 1988.
 For a detailed analysis see Quincy Wright, Mandates under the League of Nations. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968.
 The Solution of the Palestine Refugee Problem, p. 19.
Cf. the presentation of this view in the documentation by D. F. W. Van Rees,
Vice-President of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of
Les Mandats Internationaux.
International de l’Administration Mandataire.
Paris: Rousseau, 1927, p. 20: “... la souveraineté elle-mÃme
serait détenue, depuis la renonciation des anciens Empires, par les
communautés et les populations autochtones des différents territoires.”
 The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem 1917-1988. Prepared for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. New York: United Nations, 1990, p. 56.
 This also applies to the issue of border demarcation between sovereign states as the one undertaken by the Security Council between Iraq and Kuwait after the Gulf War. Such demarcations can only be made through bilateral agreement between the states concerned (unless those states explicitly confer such authority upon the International Court of Justice).
 Principles of Public International Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966, p. 161.
 “The Palestine Problem before the United Nations” in American Journal of International Law, vol. 42 (1948), pp. 859-861; p. 860.
 Official Records of the General Assembly, Second Session, Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question, Doc. A/AC 14/32 (1947), pp. 276ff.
 “The General Assembly ... Resolves to request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion under Article 96 of the Charter and Chapter VI of the Statute of the Court on the following questions: ... (h) Whether the United Nations, or any of its Member States, is competent to enforce or recommend the enforcement of any proposal concerning the constitution and future government of Palestine, in particular any plan of partition which is contrary to the wishes, or adopted without the consent, of the inhabitants of Palestine ...” (Official Records of the General Assembly, loc. cit., pp. 299-301) For more details see Henry Cattan, Palestine and International Law. The Legal Aspects of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. London: Longman, 1973, pp. 42ff.
 The Law of the United Nations. A Critical Analysis of Its Fundamental Problems. London: Stevens & Sons Ltd., 1950, pp. 193ff.
 Op. cit., p. 197, fn. 7.
 Op. cit., pp. 195f.
 Op. cit., p. 196, fn. 7.
 “Palestine and the Constitutional Law of the United Nations” in The American Journal of International Law, vol. 42 (1948), pp. 397-399; p. 397 (emphasis by the author).
 “The Middle East Problem” in John Norton Moore (ed.), The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Volume II: Readings. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press, 1974, pp. 828-839; p. 829.
 For a comprehensive analysis and documentation of all legal aspects of the Palestine problem and of the violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination by the League of Nations and the United Nations Organization see: The Palestine Question. Seminar of Arab Jurists on Palestine. Algiers, 22-27 July, 1967. Translated from French by Edward Rizk. Beirut: The Institute for Palestine Studies, 1968, Part two: Legal Titles, pp. 62-111.
 See Security Council resolution 242 (1967). For an assessment of the situation after Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza see Isaac Shapiro (ed.), The Middle East. Prospects for Peace. Background Papers and Proceedings. 13th Hammarskjold Forum. Dobbs Ferry (NY): Oceana Publications, 1969.
The first such clear acknowledgment of “inalienable rights” was expressed in resolution 2535 B (XXIV) of 10 December 1969. For a detailed account of United Nations resolutions confirming the Palestinian right to self-determination see Sally V. Mallison and W. Thomas Mallison, Jr., “The Juridical Bases for Palestinian Self-determination” in The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, vol. I (1984), pp. 36-67.
 Those resolutions were not dealing with Palestinian self-determination but simply with the issue of withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories seized in 1967 and with the related “refugee problem.” Furthermore, the wording of the English version of resolution 242 is rather vague as it merely speaks of "occupied territories" (not of "the occupied territories") which gives room for interpretation in favour of the occupying power. The concerns about this vagueness were proven justified in view of the recent ruling of Israel's Attorney-General Eliyakim Rubinstein who stated that resolution 242 does not apply to the Palestinian territories, i.e. the West Bank and Gaza. (See "US: Mideast Talks Based on UN Rules, " Associated Press report by Barry Schweid, Washington, 30 June 2000.)
 See footnote 25 above.
See also the clarification to Annex II in the
Minutes to the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government
 See Annex to the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities, Annex II: Protocol Concerning Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities in the Sphere of Health, Art. 4.
 See the official text of the Agreement: Security Council Doc. S/1994/727, 20 June 1994, Art. II, Par. 3; Art. V (Jurisdiction), Par. 1 (b): "This jurisdiction does not include foreign relations, internal security, and public order of Settlements and the Military Installation Area and Israelis, and external security."
 Final Status Issues in a Middle East Peace. Report for "A Grassroots Perspective. Delegation to the Middle East," issued by Grassroots International. Boston/Massachusetts, 2000.
 See the Reuters report by Mohammed Assad: "Palestinians Rap Israeli View on UN Resolution 242," Jerusalem, 30 June 2000. See also the Associated Press report by Mark Lavie, "Israel Ruling Angers Palestinians," Jerusalem, 30 June 2000. See also footnote 25 above.
 Statement made at the International Progress Organization’s International Conference on the Legal Aspects of the Palestine and Jerusalem Problem (Vienna, 5-7 November 1980). Published in Hans Koechler (ed.), The Legal Aspects of the Palestine Problem with Special Regard to the Question of Jerusalem. Studies in International Relations, IV. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 1981, p. 64.
 Final Status Issues in a Middle East Peace. Report for "A Grassroots Perspective. Delegation to the Middle East," issued by Grassroots International. Boston/Massachusetts, 2000.
 On the scope of the national Palestinian liberation movement see Edward W. Said, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Jenet L. Abu-Lughod, Muhammad Hallaj, Elia Zureik, Porträt des palästinensischen Volkes. Vienna: International Progress Organization and Palestine Human Rights Campaign, 1983.
 See Hans Koechler, Democracy and the New World Order. Studies in International Relations, XIX. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 1993.
 For a detailed analysis of the practices of the occupation power in Palestine see Hans Koechler (ed.), The Human Rights Situation in Palestine. Reports by the Delegations of Inquiry on Behalf of the International Committee for Palestinian Human Rights. Vienna: International Progress Organization, 1989.
 On the problematic legal nature of economic sanctions see Hans Koechler, The United Nations Sanctions Policy and International Law. Penang: Just World Trust (JUST), 1995.
See Art. 52 of The Alliance's
Strategic Concept Approved by the Heads of State and Government
participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Washington
D.C. on 23rd and 24th April 1999. This document
introduces the concept of so-called "non-Article 5 crisis response