21 - Controversial Elements of Military Administration

Summary

Military administration is the norm international law applies to territories that are not under the sovereignty of a State. Nevertheless, military government, by its nature, denies the local population the democratic right to choose their own form of government, and it is, therefore, intrinsically a temporary situation. Some ninety per cent of the Arab population on the West Bank are now under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority but, nevertheless, the fact that there are still parts of the West Bank under Israeli military administration, some sixty years after the June 1967 War, is anomalous. It should be hoped that a solution will be found that allows the remaining ten percent of the local Arab population full democratic rights. Such a solution will need to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.