A/HRC/8/17 page 4 A. International humanitarian law 5. The most relevant international humanitarian law standards concerning Israel’s responsibilities in the OPT as the Occupying Power are set out in The Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. In its 2004 Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (hereinafter the “Wall Opinion”), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) recalled that while Israel is not a party to The Hague Convention of 18 October 1907 concerning the Laws and Customs of War and Land (Convention IV), to which The Hague Regulations are annexed, the provisions of The Hague Regulations have become part of customary international law. It also concluded that the Fourth Geneva Convention is applicable in the Palestinian territories which before the 1967 conflict lay to the east of the Green Line and which, during that conflict, were occupied by Israel.1 6. In relation to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) made a unilateral undertaking, by a declaration on 7 June 1982, to apply the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Protocol Additional thereto relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1). Switzerland, as depositary State, considered that unilateral undertaking valid.2 In 1989, the PLO made an additional written undertaking to “adhere to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and the two Protocols Additional thereto”. Concerning Hamas, it is bound by international humanitarian law obligations concerning, inter alia, the conduct of hostilities and the rights of civilians and other protected persons. In addition, Hamas has confirmed its commitment to respect “international law and international humanitarian law insofar as they conform with our character, customs and original traditions”.3 1 This fact has not been altered by Israel’s 2005 unilateral withdrawal of its forces from the strip, as confirmed repeatedly since then by the General Assembly (most recently in its resolution 62/107 of 17 December 2007) and by the United Nations Secretary-General (notably in this message to the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People, Amman, Jordan, 19 February 2008; and in his message to the opening of the 2008 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, New York, 14 February 2008). 2 3 ICJ Wall Opinion, para 9. Text of the National Unity Government programme delivered by then Prime Minister Ismail Haniya before the Palestinian Legislative Council, 17 March 2007. http://www.islamicnews.net/Document/ShowDoc09.asp?DocID=91477&TypeID=9&TabIndex=2.