[Ben Ficklin]

Israel doesn't use the bible as the basis for the laws imposed on the Palestinians or justification for settlements in the occupied territories.

Since Israel won the war, they can occupy the territories and under international laws they are required to establish laws for the Palestinians. So for almost 50 years they have had the laws and the laws have done a lot of evolving.

Under international law Israel is allowed to seize any lands that they need to administer the territories, but they are not allowed to seize lands on which Israeli citizens can settle. The first Israeli settlements in the territories after the war were ruled illegal by the Israel Supreme Court.

Israel would then utilize "Mawat Law", an Ottoman Empire law that allows unused land beyond a certain distance from a settlement to revert to the state, in this case Israel, afterwhich the land can be used for settlement.

There are a higher grounds that are rocky and not suitable for farming and consequently unused, although the lower lands surrounding are likely farmed. Because they are higher ground, they are easier to defend, and well suited for settlement.

A few years ago a documentary was produced in Israel examining Palestinian law, which was titled "The Law in These Parts". Its a series of interviews of men who were military administrators, lawyers, and judges who devised and implemented the laws thru the years and decades.

It can be found on YouTube and is informative, but it is not in English so you have to read the subtitles.

[Jan_Sobieski]

Thank you for this information. It is certainly interesting and I will watch it in its entirety.

I understand that Israel does not use the Bible as their basis or justification for settlements. However it is interesting that the many Israelite writers of the Bible (e.g. David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, etc.) foretold that the borders of the land of Israel would be an "international dilemma" which would require God's intervention.