Migron outpost, CC-by-NC-SA Helga Tawil SouriFollowing reports of the Prime Minister’s intention to bring the Levy Committee’s recommendations for government approval, ACRI states: “Approving the Levy Committee’s recommendations is admitting that the rule of law does not exist in the West Bank.”
Attorney Tamar Feldman, Director of ACRI’s Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department: “A complete and intentional disregard for the Palestinian population in the West Bank is what stands behind the government’s intention to approve the ‘practical’ recommendations of the Committee for the Arrangement of Outposts, headed by Justice (ret.) Edmund Levy.”
“This complete disregard is expected to exacerbate the severe and continuous harm to the Palestinian residents, who have been subjected to a military regime for the past 45 years,” says Attorney Feldman. “We should remind ourselves that a country that occupies a territory is obligated, in accordance with international law, to ensure the well-being of the local population and to protect this population’s rights. What is happening de facto in the West Bank is the complete opposite: Israel, which transferred and continues to transfer its own citizens onto the occupied territory – in contradiction of the law – affords Israeli settlers absolute preference over Palestinians in all aspects of life, thereby creating in the West Bank a regime in which two different populations are subject to two different systems of law. Therefore, the situation in the West Bank is neither normal nor legal, and any attempt to authorize or normalize it threatens the rule of law in the State of Israel.”
ACRI’s letter to the Levy Committee (April 2012)
The Levy Committee’s conclusions and recommendations – English summary
