Israel to let 300 Palestinians return to West Bank from Libya

'Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will allow 300 Palestinians in Libya to enter the Palestinian territories in the coming days.

"Because of the current violence in Libya I received a personal request from President Abbas ... that Israel allow a number of Palestinians to leave Libya and to enter the West Bank ... so Israel will enable 300 Palestinians to enter the West Bank," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu, who was speaking alongside visiting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said the move was made as a humanitarian gesture because the Palestinians were under threat and because there was a "concern for their safety and their very lives".

Netanyahu said Israel's move was "a mark of our desire for good neighborliness and ... peace."'

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-to-let-300-palestinians-return-to-west-bank-from-libya-1.345272

Thanks hardly seems enough.

"I was initially minded not to let them return" said US President Barrack Obama, "but one of the Canadians said he had to pick up his kitten from the holiday kennel, and another one had left his Kindle on charge, and worried that it might damage the battery or something."

Obama said that allowing the Canadians to return to Canada was "a mark of our desire for good neighbourliness and ...peace."

Learn something new every day.

Isn't that what the conflict is all about?

"As the West Bank and Gaza Strip were not under the legitimate and recognized sovereignty of any state prior to the Six Day War, they should not be considered occupied territories."----Quote from the Israeli MFA.

Did the allies refuse to allow Germans to return to their homeland when they occupied Germany after WW2?

Did the US refuse to allow Japanese to return to Japan after WW2?

What really gets me is Netanyahu puffing off his approval as a humanitarian gesture when in fact the whole idea of refusing entry to people born on the West bank is itself inhumane, especially after 50 years of occupation...........sorry disputation.

In that case, Israel certainly would be the one to determine whether or not people living in other countries can enter the territory.

Most international observers agree, however, that Israel in fact an occupying power and therefore would have the inherent responsibilities therein.

In either case, whether you go by the Israel MFA or by the general international consensus, Israel would have responsibilities related to determining who enters the territory from foreign countries.

"1. Calls upon the Government of Israel to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants of the areas where military operations have taken place and to facilitate the return of those inhabitants who have fled the areas since the outbreak of hostilities ;"

UNSCR 237

"Also calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to take immediate steps for the return of all displaced Arab and Palestinian inhabitants to their homes or former places of residence in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, in implementation of Security Council resolution 237 (1967) of 14 June 1967"

UNGAR 46/47

"Israel would have responsibilities related to determining who enters the territory from foreign countries."

If you are asserting that Israel is entitled to prevent Palestinians from returning to Palestine, then that is false.

And is Gaza occupied?......


Even more interesting is how does Israel justify claiming that the area west of the Green Line is not disputed whereas everything east is disputed?.......The only demarcation seems to be the Green Line which Israel maintains is not its border.

Your quote from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs would suggest that Israel does not have any such responsibility.

Your quote now from the UN also supports the claim that Israel does not have any such responsibility. They did, in 1967 immediately after the conflict ended - but at that time the Jordanians had not ceded jurisdiction of the West Bank over to the PLO.

Israel is not entitled to prevent Palestinians with Palestinian ID cards from entering the West Bank, but none of the people in question had such documentation.

the UN Security Council Resolution I quoted was from 1979, and the General Assembly resolution was from 1991. Accordingly, your post makes no sense.

A Palestinian ID card is effectively granted by the Israeli government, and it can be issued or not as it pleases. It has no status in international law.

Prior to that time, the kingdom of Jordan still believed that it had jurisdiction over the West Bank as evidenced by the fact that the West Bank was represented in the Jordanian legislature.

Even after 1988 (and in the July statement), the King of Jordan still stated that Jordan held control over the Muslim holy sites of East Jerusalem.

General Assembly resolutions, as you know, are non-binding recommendations.

for the other security council resolutions concerning the west bank? Is it your contention that all such security council resolutions became void in April 1988?