The point was, that the land is currently stateless. All the international laws regarding occupation that get quoted up the wazoo have as their underlying assumption that the occupied territory was internationally recognized as belonging to State A until State B occupied it. Like Lebanon and Syria, for example.
However, in the case of the West Bank and Gaza, there is no State A. That makes a difference, or would if the territories weren't currently held by the Joooooos.
That's one reason, aside from US patronage, that UN Resolution 242 spoke of returning territories, but with borders to be settled by negotiation. Obviously if the resolution meant that Israel should give it all back, there would be no borders to negotiate, everything would go back to the status quo ante.
So, the question remains, give it back to whom? In 1988 both the US and Israel had heartburn over giving it back to the PLO, the self-appointed, terrorist "representative" of the Palestinian people. Oslo and the creation of the PA was supposed to show us that Arafat had changed his spots. Hoo-ha. |
