"The court's landmark ruling hinged on its determination, sure to prove controversial, that the areas in question have never been annexed within the borders of the State, and thus Israel does not have full jurisdiction there. 'Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and the Gaza area are lands seized during warfare, and are not part of Israel,' noted the extended 11-judge panel, headed by Chief Justice Aharon Barak."
This is the standard position in international law and, needless to say, does not only apply to Israel. No country can acquire territory through war, and no country is permitted to move its citizens onto such territory in a plan to permanently annex it (Indonesia's attempt to do this to East Timor was stopped). The sole dissenter to the Court's decision, Justice Edmond Levy, expressly disagrees with this part of the judgment on the traditional Zionist basis that Israel was not an occupying power but had a right to these lands. That view is not the law of the State of Israel. The importance of the decision of the majority, both to the survival of the State of Israel, and chances for peace in the Middle East, cannot be overstated.
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