Blogs > WHY I PUT "OCCUPATION" IN QUOTATION MARKS"

Dec 27, 2003

WHY I PUT "OCCUPATION" IN QUOTATION MARKS"



Sorry for the belated answer. I just noticed Steven Vinson's question. I place"occupation" in quotation marks because the sovereignty of the regions known as"West Bank" and"Gaza" are unsettled. They were part of the Ottoman Empire. Then part of the British mandate. UN partition envisioned those regions as part of a Palestinian state. But the Palestinians refused to accept it. So, Egypt governed Gaza and Jordan governed the West Bank (of the Jordan) from 1948-1967. Israel has governed them since. In other words, the legal status of both the lands and their citizens are ambiguous. Had Israel made the residents of these regions into citizens, she would have been closing the door to a possible Palestinian state.



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