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Northern University
B A N G L A D E
S H
Legal Status of Palestine


Submitted by:
Rayhanul Islam
ID: 110101674
Section: B, 6
th
Semester
On behalf of the group members



Submitted to:
Nahid Rabbi
Lecturer, Dept. of Law
Northern University Bangladesh



Submission Date:
02 December - 2012


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List of the group members:
Order Presented Portion ID Sec Name PN
1 Introduction 1674 B Rayhanul Islam 3
2
Formation of
Palestine
1677 B Somon Hossain 6
3
Territory
1685
B Rayhan Sobhan 7
4
Permanent
population
1686
B MD Resel Hossain 10
5
Government
1792
B Khatun-e-zeenat 11
6
Sovereignty
1704
B MD Alamin 12
7
Relation with other
state
1734
B MD Saiful Islam
Tusher
15
8
Present situation of
Palestine
1692
B Shohel Rana 17
9
Opinion
1799
B Khalid Hasan 18
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Introduction

Palestine is a country which is a daily news element from years. This country is also a
vital element for Law students especially for International law as this country alone dealt with
several international issues, violation of well-established international law, and weakness of UN
while human rights are totally abolished and so on.
To find out the legal status of Palestine we need to realize the present situation which
would be incomplete and became a dark story without its background.
It has thousand years history and culture but as history is not our concern I would like to
start from fall of Ottoman Empire
1
along with legal consequences. During World War-I Turkey
and German had a treaty named Treaty of Alliance 1914 (august 2
nd
) which led Turkey support
and join the war, as a consequence Britain and French declared war against Ottoman Empire
on 5
th
November, during following war British on December 8
th
-26
th
The Ottomans were
defeated by the British forces at the Battle of Jerusalem. It must be noticed that the Britain were
supported by leaders of Arab Revolt
3
with a hope of separate independent state promised by
Britain.
After the war Britain took control of their newly conquered area of Palestine via Mandate of
Palestine which was a legal commission to administrate Palestine. The mandate system was
established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations and the San Remo
Resolution. The mandate formalized British rule in the southern part of Ottoman Syria from
19231948. In this period Britain implement Balfour Declaration (1917) promising a Jewish
home land in Palestine. This step was conflicting with British previous promise of soft rule
McMahon Hussien Agreement 1915 After the Balfour Declaration more then 13,14,000
Jewish came to Palestine and start settling there with under British rule which aggrieved
Palestinians and conflict arrived. That conflict was so violent and spiraling out of control Britain
decided to turn it to UN. UN under pressure divided Palestine into two part one for Muslims and
Christians and the other form Jewish and this end began a new story.
4

In this way we get present Palestine. To evaluate Palestines legal status as a state in general
we need a stander to scale. Montevideo Convention of 1933 provide us that scale
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Article 1 of the convention said According a state should have;
a) a permanent population
b) a defined territory
c) government and
d) Capacity to enter into relations with other states.
But thats not all; a state has some rights and duties also, without those a state is not a real
state.
A state can ensure his sovereignty
10
, It can run its judicial and administrative body
10
, create
relation with other state
11
, ensure human rights
12
, Economic Social and cultural rights, Civil and
political rights etc.
In some case Recognition of other states or International body is also important.
Considering this matters we can determine whether a Palestine is really a state or not.


1
Turkey Empire, 27
th
July 1299 1 November 1922
3
A United Revolt against Turkey empire, 1916 -1918
4
Under UN regulation 181, 29 November 1947
10.
Draft Declaration on Rights and Duties of States 1949
11.
Charter of economic rights and duties of states 1972
12.
UDHR 1948
13.
Covenant on Economic Social and cultural rights 1965
14.
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1965
References:
Books
International Law - J.G Starke
- :
Documintry
Occupation 101 www.occupation101.com



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Interview

Alison Weir Journalist & Founder of If Americans Knew
Allegra Pacheco Israele human rights lawyer
Noam Chomsky Middle East analysit and author.
And Others
Website:

https://www.cia.gov
http://merip.org/
http://www.turkeyswar.com/chronology/chronology.htm
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_during_ww2.php
http://jspivey.wikispaces.com/Middle+East+1700s
http://www.cadetcollegeblog.com/raihanabir/94
http://www.1948.org.uk/historical-background
http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000636
www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtm

Wikipedia and many more .



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Formation of Palestine
Here the meaning of formation is legal formation or existence of Palestine.
Historically whole land of Palestine was together and present Israel was also part of Palestine.
They had same governor and same practiced culture. But the formation of present Palestine is
took place when Britain turns the conflict on UN to solve the problem. UN under resolution 181
by its security council divided the historic Palestine into two part one for the Jews settlers and
the others for the Palestinians. Where 53% of land was given to Jews when they were only one
third of the population on the other hand 47% land were distributed on others dividing them
into three separate territories. But Palestinians refused this division. Ignore the newly formed
Israel and lost their value as a state in international region.
The Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements brings Palestine to a
new stage. It is also known as Oslo Peace process or Declaration of Principles (DOP) on august
1993 by which Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) take interim Self-Government for civil
administration but the government was so called dummy government where they have very little
authority.
Oslo II or The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995 add some more
power to the Palestine government such as formation of Palestine council (Legislative body),
formation of Palestine police force, legal affairs, corporation and some others.
But the recent event of Palestine is more important and effective too. Last 30th November the
U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution on giving implicit recognition to
The resolution, which lifts the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-
member state," like the Vatican possesses, easily passed the 193-nation General Assembly
with 138 nations voting in favor, and nine opposed, including the United States. Forty-one
countries abstained, including the United Kingdom.
Israel, the vote took place on the 65th anniversary of the assembly's adoption of resolution 181
on the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. By this resolution the legal status of
Palestine as a state almost came back which was taken exactly 65 years ago.


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Defined Territory:

Article 1 of the Montevideo convention contains four basic or fundamental elements of a state.
These are linked or joined one with one in these elements are defined territory is one of the
most important components of a state to be the subject of international law. Without defined
territory there should not be a state.
Territories or occupied Palestinian territories comprise the West bank ( including East
Jerusalem) which is 2167 sq. miles and the Gaza strip which is 139 sq. miles. Following the
Oslo accords parts of the territories politically came under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian
national authority.
Includes West bank, Latrun salient and the north west quarter of the dead sea but excludes Mt.
scopus, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem no mans land are also included only as a means of
depicting the entire area occupied by Israel.
The main cities of Palestine are Gaza strip, Gaza city, west bank,.Bethinehem, Hebron jeriecho,
Nablus, Nazareth, Ramllah and the capital East Jerusalem etc which are controlled under the
Palestine in these territories of Palestine is run by their political party Hamas. Paletine present
president is Aziz Dulwaik. Hamas control over the area was established after the Hamas won
the Palestine legislative in January 2006
1
. Hamas political and military rival controls the west
Bank
2
. So we can say these territories are defined territory to Palestine. Because in the eye of
international law, the territory of the state is a space within which acts of the state and specially
its coercive acts are allowed by general international law.
More than 78 states embassies are exist in Palestine. These are staying EI-Birch, Ramallah
West Bank and Gaza. Official acts are held in Gaza strip and West Bank. So territorial
sovereignty of Palestine also there.
Palestines border countries are Egypt, Israel and Jordan. The Palestine national security force
engages in various activities which includes among others maintaining the security and
protection of the Palestinian president and leadership. In Palestine has public security force,
Palestine civil police force, Military intelligence, Navy police force, Presidential force.
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There are also a small force belonging to coastal police, civil defense, air force, custom and
excise police force and the universal security service
3
. Territorial defense is exists in their own
country
As some parts of West Bank territory is under Israel. So the Palestinian need to get permission
to go from one part to another part. Some critics say it is not sovereignty but in the international
law, it is not need that all lands are attach lands may be stay different places. So it does not
hamper territorial sovereignty.
Illustration: Alaska is a state of USA but it is stay in the side of Russia.
As the whole Palestine territories are a member of the league of Arab state. The Arab states
have claimed that the Palestine is a one country and whole area (203300 sq. miles) is under
Palestine Also Israel is illegal. Present situation Juwishes made wall on the around of their
territory and use force against the Palestine and annexed Palestine land day by day.
International law does not support annexation. According to article 2, (4) of UN charter all
members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any other manner inconsistent with
the purposes of the united nations .
And
Article 10 of principle of international law related declaration provides any state cannot
conquest by the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of any state and that
territory is illegal which is conquest by use of force
.

From this discussion we can determine that annexation of Israel is illegal and that territories are
illegal for Israel. As the Israel conquest is illegal, Palestine territory is not hampered.
Israel has absolute control over some parts of West Bank. Water rights, Building permits, Border
controls, The IDF could and does enter a house Ramalla. It affairs that the Israel military
controls the West Bank, yet lets Palestinians inhabit it.
But according to article 31 of Oslo accords neither side would take any step that would change
the status of the West Bank and the Gaza strip pending the outcome of the permanent status
negotiations. However Israel settlement expansion has continued unabated
4
. In august 2005
Israel dismantled its settlements and military post inside Gaza. But IDF satay west bank UN
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has repeatedly upheld the view of Israel construction of settlements constitutes violation of the
Fourth Geneva Convention
5.

The ICJ also says Israel settlements are illegal
6
. This settlements violates Israeli law
7
.
So Palestine territory is definable. Because Israeli settlements and conquest both are illegal
References:
Books writer: J.G STARKE
1. BBC news 2005-01-08
2. CNN, Archived from the original on 2007-06-30
3. http//: paletinianmissionuk.com
4. Zed books 2003 pg.133
5. UN security council resolution 465.
6. ICJ July 2004 pg.10 retrieved 9 November 2011
7. BBC news 5 May 2010.





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Permanent population:
To be a state, we need a permanent population first, according to Montevideo Convention
Article 1, a permanent population is must for a state, without a government other elements of
state cant be fulfill.
At present total estimate population of Palestine is 37,60,000 where Gaza Strip holds 14,16,000
and West Bank contains 23,44,000.
Now the fact is, just a population is not enough to an element of international law considering a
state. The population must be a adherent to the government.
In this case, the people of Palestine are well supported to their present government. The
government is elected by the people of Palestine.
Another fact is important in this topic, is the population is fixed or moveable? The population of
Palestine lives there ancestrally.
Though the country is divided into two parts the people of the state is collective and permanent.
The population of Palestine does not get their right as well as civilized countries people.
Because of the Israel always attack to the Palestinian citizens. So, the people of Palestine do
not get the security of their life. But now Palestine gets the recognition as a visiting country of a
UN. So, now it is easy to get their recognition or legal status of Palestine.

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Sovereignty
Sovereignty means independence, non-interference by external powers in the internal affairs of
another state. It is the authority to govern or rule a nation or group of people. It is the power to
do everything in a state without accountability, to make law, to execute and to apply them.
Sovereignty means one state which governs itself independently of any foreign power.
Now the question is whether the Palestine is sovereign or not?
After the World War I, Palestine like other countries of Arab Nations was placed under British
rule. When Britain pulled out of the area every Arab state was granted independence except
Palestine. In 1917, UN issued a resolution in which it called for a separate Israel and Palestinian
state. Israel accepted this partition and in 1948, they declared its independence but Palestine
rejected this partition and it still has not received statehood status, so they are not sovereign.
According to, Montevideo Convention Article 1, to be a state it must have to be fulfill following
condition:
1) A permanent population.
2) A defined territory.
3) Government and
4) Capacity to enter into relations with the other state.
Now the question is Palestine has met this qualification or not?
By answering this question Palestine argues that it has met these requirements and therefore
achieved de facto statehood. However, to be considered a state and entity must function
independently of any other authority.
Among these qualifications Palestine has only met the first qualification they has the permanent
population and the Palestinian peoples share a common culture, history and nationality and
reside in both the West bank and the Gaza Strip. But it has not the full control over the
population.
As stated by the third U.S restatement of the law, The population must be under the control of
its own government. But Palestine is still not independent of Israel control.
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The Second qualification, It must have to be a define territory. They have to full control over the
land and the land have to a adequately defined. But the Palestine does not have sovereign title
over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In 1993, by signing the declaration of Principle (DOP), Palestine acknowledges the sovereign
title of West Bank and Gaza Strip had not yet been resolved. Palestine still have not defined
territory So, they are not sovereign.
Thirdly, and entity or state must have a government The Encyclopedia of public International
law states that, the government in excising its power must be capable of acting independently
of foreign govt. But Palestine does not process such independence for its role under the
overacting authority of Israel.
Declaration of principles (DOP) which was sign by both sides gave limited power to the
Palestine national authority.
Article 1 section of (DOP) states that, Israel shall transfer powers and responsibilities as
specified in this agreement from the Israeli military govt. and its civil administration council in
accordance with this agreement. Israel shall continue to exercise power and responsibilities not
so transferred.
(1)DOP supra note 3 at article 1(1).
By this Article DOP shows, Palestine lack of independent over the area. DOP also makes clear
that, there are certain powers that Palestine does not process; Palestine can create an internal
security force but not an army. Palestine also cannot enter into any relation with foreign
counties.

The last component of de facto statehood is the ability to enter into relations with foreign states.
Palestine cannot make foreign decisions or enter into foreign relations without cooperation of
Israel .Palestine ability to enter into foreign relations in severally limited by the Interim accord of
1995 article 9 section 5 of the Palestine council states that;
the council will not have power and responsibilities sphere of foreign relation, which sphere
includes the establishment abroad of embassies, consulates or other type of foreign missions
and posts or permitting their establishment in the west Bank of the Gaza strip, the appointment
of or admission of diplomatic consular staff and the exercise of diplomatic relation.(supra note
16 at article 9 section 5a).
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When looking at the article one can clearly see that Palestine does not have the capacity inter
into relations. So from the above four requirements we see that Palestine does not have the
sovereignty.

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Relation with other state

The foreign relations of the Palestine National Authority are conducted by the PLO which
maintains a network of offices in foreign countries. The Palestine National Authority was
established in 1994 following the Oslo Accords and the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement.
The Israeli government transferred certain power and responsibilities of self government to the
PNA which are in effect in parts of the West Bank and used to be effective in the Gaza strip
before its takeover by Hamas. Foreign relations by the PNA are conducted by the Foreign
Affairs Minister of the Palatine National Authority. From2011, the PNAs diplomatic efforts have
been focused on the so called Palestine 194 campaign aiming to gain membership for the state
of Palestine in the United Nation. It seeks to effectively gain collective recognition for a
Palestinian state based on the borders prior to the six-day war with East Jerusalem as its
Capital.
Now I am telling about some agreement by which Palestine maintain its with other
countries and protect its interest:
1. The Oslo 1 Accord or Oslo 1 officially called the declaration of principles on interim self.
Government arrangements or declaration of principles was an attempt in1993 to resolve
the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was first face agreement between the
government of Israel and the Palestine liberation organization.
2. The protocol on Economics relations was annex of the Gaza-Jericho agreement
between Israel and the Palestine authority signed in Paris on 4 May 1994. It governed
economic relation between the two parties.
3. The Israel-Jordan treaty of peace full name treaty of peace between the state of Israel
and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was signed in 1994. The treaty normalized
relations between the two countries and resolved territorial dispute.
Additional to these, there are some more treaties. These are:
1. Egypt-Israel peace treaty in 1979.
2. Faisal-Weizmann agreement in 1919.
3. Armistice agreement in 1949.
4. Israel-Jordan treaty of peace in 1994.
5. International Aristech convention in 2012.
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6. UN convention on the law of the sea in 2012.
7. Ophthalmological convention in 2011 etc.

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Present situation of Palestine
It is quit impossible to realize the present situation of Palestine because of its worse condition.
As a Law Student I would like to present the situation relating with International Law.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Right there are 30 Rights must fulfills to
confirm Human Right. The question may arise whether the Declaration is applicable to Palestine
or not? To confirm this, in the Preamble of the Declaration it is clearly mention that this
Declaration is to protect every single human being and to develop friendly relation between
nations.
Now I am going to say something about Palestine. Though UDHR mentioned 30 articles but
none of them are maintained.
If we consider the present situation, we see most of the territory is under control Israel,
especially West Bank of Gaza. The Palestinian people of that part have very little opportunity to
higher studies. Take medical treatment and so on. Even incase emergency they got restrictions
on their freedom of movement which is clear violation of UDHR (the Universal Declaration of
Human Right) of article 1, 3, 6, 7, 13(1), 25(1), 26, and 28.
Israel is still Annexation territory of Palestine when UN Security council Resolution no 292
clearly forbidden any type of Annexation is also illegal under Briand Kellogg pact 1928,and
contradictory with UN charter 2(4).
In this situation Palestinian people are helpless and they want to be free from any kind of
oppressions.
At last they express themselves one of the Independent Nations in the world by getting 138
votes, members of UN in 30 November, 2012.




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Owns opinion & Conclusion
There are a wide variety of views regarding the status of the State of Palestine, both among the
states of the international community and among legal scholars. The existence of a state of
Palestine, although controversial, is nonetheless a reality in the opinions of the many states that
have established bilateral diplomatic relations.
Statehood for the purposes of the UN Charter: A successful application for membership in the
UN would require approval from the UN Security Council and a two-thirds majority in the UN
General Assembly. In mid-September 2011, the Palestinian National Authority sought to gain
recognition as a state, it was reported that 126 (65.4%) of the 193 member states of the UN
General Assembly recognized the State of Palestine.
Consequences of the occupation: After 1967, a number of legal arguments were advanced
which dismissed the right of Palestinians to self-determination and statehood. They generally
proposed that Palestine was a land void of a legitimate sovereign and supported Israeli claims
to the remaining territory of the Palestine Mandate. Most UN member states questioned the
claim that Israel held better title to the land than the inhabitants, and stressed that statehood
was an inalienable right of the Palestinian people.
Declaration and Act of State Doctrine: Many states have recognized the State of Palestine since
1988. Under the principles of customary international law, when a government is recognized by
another government, recognition is retroactive in effect, and validates all the actions and
conduct of the government so recognized from the commencement of its existence.
Decisions of international and national tribunals: The U.S. State Department Digest of
International Law says that the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne provided for the application of
the principles of state succession to the "A" Mandates. The Treaty of Versailles (1920)
provisionally recognized the former Ottoman communities as independent nations. It also
required Germany to recognize the disposition of the former Ottoman territories and to
recognize the new states laid down within their boundaries.
The Treaty of Lausanne required the newly created states that acquired the territory to pay
annuities on the Ottoman public debt, and to assume responsibility for the administration of
concessions that had been granted by the Ottomans.
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State succession: A legal analysis by the International Court of Justice noted that the Covenant
of the League of Nations had provisionally recognized the communities of Palestine as
independent nations. The mandate simply marked a transitory period, with the aim and object of
leading the mandated territory to become an independent self-governing State.
Opinions of officials and legal scholars: Jacob Robinson was a legal advisor to the United
Nations delegation of the Jewish Agency for Palestine during the special session of the General
Assembly in 1947. He advised the Zionist Executive that the provisional states had come into
existence as a result of the resolution of 29 November 1947.
L.C. Green explained that "recognition of statehood is a matter of discretion; it is open to any
existing state to accept as a state any entity it wishes, regardless of the existence of territory or
an established government."
So considering all the facts above, our group opinion is - Palestine is a state according to
Montevideo Convention. It has all the elements needed as mentioned in the convention but it
failed to fulfill others duties and responsibilities that a state should maintain such as: ensure Its
sovereignty, It can run its judicial and administrative body, create relation with other state,
ensure human rights, Economic Social and cultural rights, Civil and political rights etc.. But so
far Palestine is not successful regarding this matter. Rather time by time It enter into several
contract and agreement with Israel with others help which means the state is not sovereign at
all.
We think the real legal status of Palestine is a vassal State
1


1. International law J.G Stark. Page no: (115)