Law-enforcement Activity of the Supreme Court of Israel on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Abstract

In the article the author touches upon the different aspects of the activities of the Supreme Court of Israel in respect of the occupied territories and simultaneously gives an overview of history of the Supreme Court in order to make the understanding of the issues easier.
One of the topics analyzed in the article is the judgments of the Court in respect of the Arab citizens of Israel. They were viewed as part of hostile exterior and thus the relation of the Court to them was greatly influenced by this fact. But author gives comprehensive analysis of this issue and elaborates on its different aspects.
Further on the author describes the activity of the Court in respect of the occupied territories which at times was quite controversial. The author points out several peculiarities in this respect (such as judiciary control over military authorities of the occupied territories) and describes and defines them. The author also states that there was a discrepancy between the actions of the Court with regard to Israel itself and the occupied territories. Apart from this, opinions of politicians and military men in respect of this question are also expressed in the article.
The author also discusses the challenges, which the Court had to face when the issue of the occupied territories arose. In particular the role of the applicable norms of international law (Geneva Convention) is analyzed as it could have been used in this situation and as the Court had used it. The author concludes that the Court used the norms of international law (with several exceptions) in the interests of the military authorities avoiding proper implications of the norms.