Does Israel Occupy the West Bank? | 5 Minute Video

How many times have you heard that Israel "occupies" the West Bank? But have you ever asked yourself whether that’s true? Or even what it means? Eugene Kontorovich, professor of law at George Mason University, dives into these questions and uncovers some surprising answers.

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Script:

How many times have you heard that Israel "occupies" the West Bank?

Probably more times than you can count.

But have you ever asked yourself whether it's true? Or even what it means?

Let's do so now in the most objective way possible; that is, in the way that all territorial questions everywhere else in the world are resolved.

To do this, we must look at the law.

But first, we need a little history.

Up until 100 years ago, the areas now called Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and all the countries around them—were part of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over a vast area and many peoples. Neither the Jews nor those Arabs we now call Palestinians had a state, though the Jews had a nationalist movement calling for one.

Everything changed after World War I. The Ottomans fought on the losing side with Germany.  By end of the war in 1918, their empire had disintegrated, leaving the British and French in control of much of its territory.

In earlier times, the victors would likely have kept this land as colonies for themselves. But there was a new spirit of democracy in the air. The allies—including the British, French, and Americans—agreed that the former Ottoman lands should be allowed to become independent nation-states.

After the war, the nations of the world created the League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations. Meeting in San Remo, Italy in 1920, they set up what was known as "the Mandate system." The colonies of the defeated powers—Germany and the Ottoman Empire—were converted into distinct geopolitical entities, which became the countries now known as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

None of this is controversial.

There was one other Mandate issued—the Mandate for Palestine. "Palestine" was merely a geographic label—the name the Romans gave the Jewish Kingdom of Judea after they conquered it. There was nothing exclusively Arab about it.

The Mandate provided that Palestine would become a "national home" for the Jewish people. There was a simple reason for this: the League recognized that Jews were the indigenous people of the area.

All the mandatory territories in the Middle East transitioned to statehood in the 30s and 40s, with Israel the last to do so, declaring independence in May 1948.

So, now we get to the legal stuff.

What were the borders of the State of Israel when it declared independence?

International law has a simple and universally applicable rule for determining borders.  It's called the Uti possidetis juris principle (lawyers love Latin phrases). The rule provides that when a new country is created, its borders match the borders of the previous geopolitical entity in that territory. 

For example, the borders of Ukraine, Latvia, and Azerbaijan are exactly what they were when they were parts of the Soviet Union.  

Other considerations, such as demographics, are not taken into account—because without a simple, easily-applied rule, a new country's borders would never be settled—a recipe for permanent conflict. 

Applying this rule to Israel means that it had sovereign claims to all of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and Gaza because those were its borders according to the Mandate of Palestine.

To be sure, the United Nations proposed a resolution in 1947 with different borders and a much smaller area for a Jewish state. But that resolution was a non-binding recommendation. Nothing more. It did not have the force of law.

We know what happened next.

Upon declaring independence, Israel was immediately invaded by five Arab armies, seeking to destroy it.

Israel survived, but Jordan managed to seize parts of Jerusalem, as well as Judea and Samaria, which it dubbed "the West Bank." All the Jews living in these areas were expelled—or, to use a contemporary term, ethnically cleansed.

Here we need to introduce another key principle of international law: a war of aggression cannot be used to change a country's borders.

[stony]

What’s interesting is we must keep telling the history because most don’t know it. Especially those in so called educational institutions

[scugniz]

Very interesting, would be nice if many of our politicians and fellow citizens would understand this and history before jumping on the bandwagon with terrorist organizations such as Hamas.

[sarahwing]

I keep hearing that Israel is an apartheid state, so this was an informative video. As I’m learning more about the history of this conflict, the bottom line that is emerging to me is that Israel and Palestine can not live in peace, because many of not most Palestinians hate the Jews. You can’t have live peaceably alongside people who want you to die.

[LeeLe]

When Israel made peace with Egypt, Israel also offered to give Gaza back along with Sinai. Egypt refused (wonder why). Same happened with Jordan who didn't want the West Bank back. How can land be called an "occupation" when the country it was occupied from doesn't want it back? Make it make sense.
That is without adding the fact that Jordan illegally annexed the land while Israel won the land through a defensive war, which is legal under international law.
Even if people do want to claim that the West Bank is "occupied", it is not occupied from the Palestinians themselves as they never had a sovereign state nor did they ask for one between 1948-1967, although they did create the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) in 1964.... 3 years before the 1967 war.

[katiedc]

Can you all please forward these historical facts to all the legacy "news" stations and Squad members in Congress? Seriously. Because many truly do not know history.

[stephen]

I pretty much knew everything he said… but to hear the facts in such a concise, factually spoken manner, with the legalities explained is great and so helpful!

[jaronby]

The original Mandate of Palestine included Jordan, previously kown as Trans- Jordan. In 1922 GB decided single-handedly to bring over the Hashemite royal family from Saudi-Arabia to Trans-Jordan and dividing the Mandate the facto in to two. Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Only after 1949 when Trans-Jordan annexed Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank, it called itself Jordan, as it had two sides of the river Jordan...

[geraldhartley]

I wish more people would watch Prager U videos. They are clear and concise, and full of simple FACTS.

[blackeyedturtle]

Thank you for such a succinct and rational explanation. I have never understood why proPalestinians refer to Judea/Samaria as "occupied" territory, as the only other recognized government to briefly hold it in possession was Jordan.

[Nirolevy]

You nailed it ! Every word was right, and add to all that -
The common Arabic name for this region is "Yahuda wa - Samara", not palestine and not occupied territories whatsoever

[TickedOffPriest]

The PA rejected the claims, because it has never been about land.

[TTTT-oceb]

Unfortunately, facts will never trump emotions. It's much easier to cheer for the eternal "underdog" than to actually try to understand why we are here.

[delven]

West Bank and Gaza should go back to the Jewish people period. If Arabs want to live in Israel in Peace, the Jewish people have no problem with that as I have experienced working in Israel many times.

[roberthuismans]

Another often overlooked question must be repeated: Where else other than Israel in the middle east is it most free and safest to be a religious minority, a female of any age, a homosexual or someone who wishes to practice freedom of expression and assembly?

[gamingkingdom]

he also forgot to mention that if a nation conquers land in a defensive war it can keep it

[roeesadan]

The mandate of Palestine was of Jordan as well. Don't forget
Jordan a country that was completely invented by the british (there were no people calling themselves Jordanian just like Palestine) mind you, and it was supposed to be the "Arab state" as a part of the "two state solution" given by the british

[dabooser]

This clearly explains the truth of the lands and who they belong to. It unfortunately reveals that Israel has created much of their own problem when they allowed "Palestinians" governance over some of the land.

[patriotstanding]

So simply understandable. Media needs to study in your history class.

[TemplarMedic]

For decades we in the West have been told the circumstances in Israel are "complicated". After a five minute video from Prager U, I think to myself, "Self, what is so complicated?". Thank you for this video.

[joeandurien]

Very informative. I don’t see a way for peace in the area as long as Hamas controls Gaza though.