A/HRC/12/48
page 49
ordered the rerouting of different portions of the Wall,19 but considered the structure legal in
principle.20
186. In 2002, the so-called Quartet (the United States, the European Union, the Russian
Federation and the United Nations) proposed a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The plan came to be known as the “road map to peace.”21 The road map envisaged that the
Palestinians would engage in democratic reforms and renounce violent means and that Israel
would accept a Palestinian Government and cease settlement activities. Fulfilment of the road
map’s commitments would lead to negotiations on the final status. The road map remains
unimplemented. The same year, the League of Arab States adopted a proposal that Saudi Arabia
presented at the Beirut Summit in which its members pledged to establish normal relations with
Israel in the context of a comprehensive peace that would establish a Palestinian State within the
border of 1967.22
187. On 6 June 2004, the Israeli Cabinet adopted a “disengagement plan” providing for the
unilateral removal from the Gaza Strip of Israeli security forces and Israeli civilians living in
settlements. The plan was endorsed by the Knesset on 26 October of the same year. With the
evacuation of all Israeli residents and associated security personnel from the Gaza Strip
completed on 12 September 2005, Israel declared that “there will be no basis for claiming that
the Gaza Strip is occupied territory” (on the continued occupation, see chapter IV). Under the
disengagement plan, however, the Israeli armed forces continued to maintain control over Gaza’s
borders, coastline and airspace, and Israel reserved “its inherent right of self-defence, both
preventive and reactive, including where necessary the use of force, in respect of threats
emanating from the Gaza Strip.” Israel removed both settlements and military bases protecting
the settlers from the Gaza Strip, redeploying on Gaza’s southern border and repositioning its
forces to other areas just outside the Gaza Strip. In addition to controlling the borders, coastline
and airspace, after the implementation of the disengagement plan, Israel continued to control
Gaza’s telecommunications, water, electricity and sewage networks, as well as the population
registry, and the flow of people and goods into and out of the territory while the inhabitants of
Gaza continued to rely on the Israeli currency.23
188. After years of disassociation from the Oslo process, Hamas changed its position about the
legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority and decided to participate in the elections of January
19
Many of these rulings have had only a marginal impact on the Palestinian population.
The Court opened its deliberation by stating that “since 1967, Israel has been holding the areas of Judea and
Samaria […] in belligerent occupation”, see Beit Sourik Village Council v. The Government of Israel and
Commander of the IDF Forces in the West Bank, case No. 2056/04, Judgement of 30 June 2004 and Mara’abe et al.
v. The Prime Minister of Israel et al., case No. 7957/04, Judgement of 15 September 2005.
20
“A performance-based road map to a permanent two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, available
at: http://www.un.org/news/dh/mideast/roadmap122002.pdf
21
22
Available at: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/AllDocsByUNID/5a7229b652beb9c5c1256b8a0054b62e
See “Disengagement Plan - General Outline”, 15 April 2004, available at: http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/
Archive/Press+Releases/2004/Disengagement+Plan/Disengagement+Plan.htm; and “Overall concept of the
Disengagement Plan”, 15 April 2004, available at: http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Archive/Press+Releases/
2004/Disengagement+Plan/DisengagementPlan.htm.
23
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