Researchers Micheline Deeik and Asem Khalil have published a paper on the Social Science Research Network, entitled “Prolonged Occupation under International Humanitarian Law.” The researchers discuss the belief of some people that public international law has become impractical, hopeless, and pointless at such times because international law is interpreted by relying on the policy of powerful states, and that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories was and still is the longest occupation in history, as they say. One of the Israeli justifications that the two writers discussed is justifying the existence of the Israeli occupation for a long period as a prolonged occupation, while the temporariness of an occupation is one of the criteria of what makes it legal. Accordingly, the “prolonged occupation” argument raises two main legal issues. The first is the application of international humanitarian law, and the second is that the occupation is based on the idea of preserving the status of the occupied population. To check the paper, click here
