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Decades of Palestinian Displacement in East Jerusalem - by Stephen Lendman
The UN General Assembly's 1947 Resolution 181 internationalized Jerusalem as a separate body (a corpus separatum), administered by a UN Trustee Council, a policy still binding but not followed. Nor have other resolutions or international law provisions Israel rejects, ones interfering with its military occupation, affecting E. Jerusalem Palestinians repressively since June 1967, more still after passage of the July 30, 1980 Basic Law, declaring "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel."
Yet on June 30, 1980, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 476 (America abstaining), declaring "all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant (Fourth Geneva) violation."
Following Israel's non-compliance, the SC unanimously passed Resolution 478 (America again abstaining), "censur(ing Israel) in the strongest term" for enacting the Jerusalem Basic Law, calling it a violation of international law, saying the Council doesn't recognize it, and telling member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city.
The Security Council and General Assembly reaffirmed their positions that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, that expropriating its land is illegal, and that all Israeli legislative and administrative measures, altering the city's character and status, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith. To this day, Israel never complied, continuing its relentless policies of land seizures, home demolitions, and dispossessions, flagrantly flouting its obligations under international law.
Also its illegal occupation in defiance of Hague Regulation 43, stating:
"The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in (its) power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country."
In addition, temporary administrative powers only are authorized, legitimate sovereignty to be restored as soon as possible, never indeterminately held by the occupier, what Israel has done for over 43 years, preventing the restoration of the pre-war status quo.
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