What are the Main Legal Arguments for and against the Legality of Israeli Settlements and Communities in the Westbank/Judaea and Samaria? (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 1,3, , language: English, abstract: The years of discussion about the question of the legal status of the settlements already indicates that it is not easy to come up with a distinct answer. For this reason, this paper does not aim to provide a definitive determination of the legal status of the Israeli settlements/communities in West Bank/Judea and Samaria (= Occupied Palestinian Territory = OPT). Rather, the goal to examine the legal arguments put forward by the various parties to the conflict and other actors in this debate and to explain why it is so difficult to come to a clear answer.

The first step will be a brief overview of the Israeli settlements/communities in general. Here I focus primarily on the critical aspects of the Israeli settlements/communities in order to make clear why they are so controversial. Then the arguments supporting illegality are presented. A distinction must be made here between the arguments based on the International Humanitarian Law and the arguments based on the International Human Rights Law. To continue with the other side, the arguments for the legality of settlements will be considered, in order to finally draw some conclusions in relation to the question.