Module Code: ETHICS 212

Surname and Name: Bhongolethu Mgijima

Student Number: 4434539

Lecturer: Lecturer Tiana Bosman

Due date: 11 April 2025

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

1. I hereby declare that I know what plagiarism entails, namely to use another’s work and to
present it as my own without attributing the sources in the correct way. (Refer to
University Calendar part 1 for definition)
2. I know that plagiarism is a punishable offence because it constitutes theft.
3. I understand the plagiarism policy of the Faculty of Arts of the University of the Western
Cape.
4. I know what the consequences will be if I plagiarize in any of the assignments for my
course.
5. I declare therefore that all work presented by me for every aspect of my course, will be
my own, and where I have made use of another’s work, I will attribute the source in the
correct way.
6. Signature ……………………………
INTRODUCTION
In this essay I will be discussing the relevance of the Human rights in light of the Palestinian-
Israeli conflict. However, these rights have not been used to their full applicability in this
ongoing conflict which dates back to the 20th century, which has caused violence,
dispossession and lack of self-determination up until now. In this essay to demonstrate the
ineffective of the human rights I will be on Annexation and the End of the Two- State
solution by Michael Lynk case study.

ANNEXATION AND THE END OF THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION CASE STUY

The case study looks into Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, Syrian Golan Heights and
West Bank in 1967 which has violated the laws of the International Laws. The International
community condemned the Israelites for the de jure annexation of East Jerusalem and Syrian
Golan heights but regardless that they continued to permanently expand and establish their
state as the sovereign state in East Jerusalem, leaving the Jerusalem-Palestinian citizens in
negligence by not providing for the basic needs and infrastructure and also built a Separation
wall to restrict the movements of the Palestinians. Its further de facto annexation of the West
Bank couldn’t happen without the support of the international community, their response to
that, they denied the occupation of the West Bank along with that, they don’t want to comply
with fourth Geneva Convention. (Lynk, 2019).

HUMAN RIGHTS and ITS ELEMENS - IHL, UDHR and ICCPR

The UNICEF defines Human rights as “standards that recognize and protect the dignity of all
human beings” (UNICEF, 2015). These rights are the foundation of the international laws
which we have today. Human rights were created after the misfortune events of the World
War II through many laws, until the international movement of 1970. However, the history of
struggle for human rights in Israel/ Palestine has caused the conflict that is still ongoing up to
date (Hajjar, 2001). Human rights have many elements, one of them is the International
Humanitarian Law. The International Committee of the Red Cross defines International
Humanitarian Law (IHL) as “a set of rules that seeks, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the
effects of armed conflict” (ICRC, 2021). IHL can be used to protect people who find
themselves in times of conflict. The Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant
for Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva Convention are also the elements of the human
rights, which were adopted in the same year after the tragic events of World War II (Stork,
2006). The conflict has violated many rights- right to life, livelihood and lack of self-
determination.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND KEY ISSUES

The conflict between the Palestine and Israel took place after the Balfour Declaration, when
the Jews were trying to develop a state by conducting a diplomacy on 2 November 1917
through the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration agreed to the idea of developing a
new state for the Jews in Palestine. It was then declared on 31 October 1917 by the Britain
government, stating that they supported the Israel’s idea to establish a state in Palestine, as
long as they will not do anything to harm the Palestinian rights and communities. (Tri,
Nanda, 2022).

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) replied to the questions that it received from the UN
General Assembly about Israel’s occupation settlement and the annexation of the Palestinian
territory and the violation of the right to self-determination by Israel. It views Israel’s
occupation and its ongoing seizing of lands as a violation of the international law. It also sees
the Israel’s de jure annexation of East Jerusalem and de facto annexation of West Bank as the
violation of the international law. The ICJ further argued that even though the lands that were
occupied by the Palestinian were not a sovereign state, that did not give the Israel the power
to settle in there. The Geneva Convention and the Hague Convention state that an occupying
state cannot forcefully bring its own people in an occupied state. There is a struggle for the
right to self-determination for the Palestinians as they have no land for the implementation of
that right. With regards to the occupation of the West Bank, the ICJ views Israel’s actions of
sending its own people there whereas it is already occupied as the violation of the Geneva
Convention and by forcefully taking the land and exploiting the natural resources to benefit
its people and also by imposing its laws in East Jerusalem and military law in West Bank.
These acts show the show the determination of the Israelites to want to take control over the
occupied land. There has been an increase in population in the West Bank which has caused
people to be subjected to lack of services, living spaces and resources causing them the
Palestinians to leave. (Raday, 2024)

The Israelites made state’s rights and duties that prioritised its own citizens over the
Palestinians. And their reason to not putting use of the Fourth Geneva Convention is that they
had an intention of claiming all the land. The Israel’s explanation of its own right in and
claims of the land is Palestinian’s statelessness. It continues by explaining that the IHL only
recognises sovereign states, and Palestine is not one of those states to benefit from the right
and duties declared by IHL. It further argues that Palestine was never an independent state so
they also cannot be the rightful sovereigns of the West Bank and Gaza because there is
nothing in the IHL that postulate the rightful sovereignty to a “nonstate”. Israel sees
Palestinian’s effort to assemble in the West Bank and Gaz to fight for their rights as
threatening to its security and sees that as criminal violation. The Israelites have retaliated by
using acts of violence and non-violent activities related to basic needs. Even though not all
the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were displaced, their rights to the land were
undermined by the Israeli policy. Even though, these policies violate the Fourth Geneva
Convention, Israel made a legal order to make its own governance legal in the West Bank and
Gaza. (Hajjar, 2001).

HUMAN RIGHTS’ EFFECTIVENESS IN PROTECTING INDIVUALS IN THE

The Palestinian Uprising against the occupation had an impact on human rights. Between
1988 and the early 1990s, human rights organisations (HRO) began to increase their
activities, and new Israeli and Palestinian organisation were being established. The Landau
Commission report about the General Security Services (GSS)’ s acts of violence had made
the human rights to shift their focus to putting a stop to the torture of the Palestinians.
Israeli’s policies to put down the uprising included and increase in arrests and torture. These
acts steered the focus to the situation in the West Bank and Gaza. Local and internation HRO
began to look into the Uprising, and they also evaluated the gaps between local and
international HRO to strive for the promulgation and enforcement of the international law.
Human rights were promoted through many activities like publicizing violations and
investigations. These activities assisted in developing an international awareness concern
about what was happening and also the raised the international community awareness
concern about the violations of Palestinians’ rights. At the end of the 1980s, the Palestinians
and Israeli were putting use of the human rights to communicate their ideas and views about
the conflict. The use of these rights was seen is how the people were expressing their views
regarding peace. But the Uprising did not put an end to the occupation. (Hajjar, 2001).

CONCLUSION

In this essay I have discussed the relevance of the human rights in light of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, in which these rights have not been used in the full applicability between
these two states. I have also used Michael Lynk’s case study to illustrate the rights that have
been violated. I further discussed the key issues regarding this conflict like dispossession,
right to self-determination and annexation and the effectiveness of the human rights to protect
the civilians and regulate the conflict even though there has not been a solution regarding this
matter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hajjar, L., 2001. Human Rights in Israel/ Palestine: The History and Politics of a Movement.
Journal of Palestine Studies, [e-journals] 30(2), p21-36. Available through: UWC Library
website <[Link]> [ Accessed 28 March 2025]

Lynk, M., 2019. Annexation and the End of the Two-State Solution. Palestine- Israel Journal
of Politics, Economic & Culture, [e- journal] 24(1/2), p103-112. Available through: UWC
Library website <[Link]> [Accessed 28 March 2025]

Mahwati, T ..Nanda, AR., 2002. Analysis of the Palestinian and Israeli Conflict in the
Perspective of International Humanitarian law. International Law Discourse in Southesast
Asia, [e-journals] 1(1), p23-42. Available through: UWC Library website <[Link]>
[Accessed 28 March 2025].

Stork, k., 2006. Humanitarian Law in the Israel /Palestine Conflict. ATLASerials, [e-journal].
p8- 19. Available through: UWC Library website <[Link]> [Accessed 23 March
2025].

Raday, F., 2024. The Gaza war and the Settlements- an Assessment of the International Legal
Opinions. Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economic & Culture, [e- journals] 29(1/2),
p50-59. Available through: UWC Library website<[Link]> [Accessed 23 March
2025].