International law professor Hanna Issa has affirmed that Israel’s intent to annex Ma’ale Adumim settlement to east Jerusalem and use its own law to legalize the step clearly violates the fourth Geneva convention of 1949.
Issa who is also secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Commission for Jerusalem and Holy Sites highlighted that this convention prohibits any occupying power from freely using its own measures or policies in the territories under its occupation and demands it to take into account the interests of the civilian population protect their property and maintain the legal status of those territories.
“The successive Israeli governments have continued to claim that the provisions of the international humanitarian law particularly the fourth Geneva convention do not apply to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 at the pretext that the provisions of this convention does not enjoy superiority and supremacy over the Israeli law and the commands of the military leadership” he stated.
“However such Israeli position does not change a bit the de jure applicability of the fourth Geneva convention to the occupied Palestinian territories” he added.
