{"id":236882,"date":"2025-02-12T01:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T01:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/what-international-law-says-about-trumps-proposal-to-remove-palestinians-from-gaza\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T01:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T01:09:06","slug":"what-international-law-says-about-trumps-proposal-to-remove-palestinians-from-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/what-international-law-says-about-trumps-proposal-to-remove-palestinians-from-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"What International Law Says About Trump\u2019s Proposal to Remove Palestinians From Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/05\/multimedia\/05interpreter-gaza-pwvk\/05interpreter-gaza-pwvk-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"What International Law Says About Trump\u2019s Proposal to Remove Palestinians From Gaza\" title=\"What International Law Says About Trump\u2019s Proposal to Remove Palestinians From Gaza\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Trump\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/04\/us\/politics\/trump-gaza-strip-netanyahu.html\" title=\"\">proposal<\/a> for the United States to take over Gaza and remove some two million Palestinians who live there would unquestionably be a severe violation of international law, experts say. As further details of his proposal emerge, the list of potential violations becomes even clearer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a Fox News interview on Monday, Mr. Trump said that under his plan, Gaza\u2019s Palestinians <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/10\/world\/middleeast\/trump-gaza-us-takeover.html\" title=\"\">would not be allowed to return to the territory<\/a>, a violation in its own right of an important principle of international law, as well as a component of other international crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His latest comments undermine his aides\u2019 attempts to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2025\/02\/05\/world\/israel-gaza-netanyahu-trump\" title=\"\">walk back his initial proposal<\/a> by claiming he was actually suggesting a temporary, voluntary evacuation of Gaza\u2019s population \u2014 a scenario that could have been legally defensible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTrump is just casually making major international crimes into policy proposals,\u201d said Janina Dill, the co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. \u201cHe just normalizes violating, or proposing to violate, the absolute bedrock principles of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-12b7e6d4\">Forced deportation<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The forced deportation or transfer of a civilian population is a violation of international humanitarian law, a war crime and a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ihl-databases.icrc.org\/en\/customary-ihl\/v1\/rule129\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">prohibition<\/a> has been a part of the law of war since the Lieber Code, a set of rules on the conduct of hostilities that dates back to the U.S. Civil War. Forced deportation is also prohibited by multiple provisions of the Geneva Conventions, which the United States has ratified, and the Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II defined it as a war crime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court lists forcible population transfers as both a war crime and a crime against humanity. And if the displacement targets a particular group based on their ethnic, religious or national identity, then it is also persecution \u2014 an additional crime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">(Because the International Criminal Court recognizes a state of Palestine as a party to the court, it has jurisdiction over those crimes if they take place within Gaza. That is true even if they are committed by citizens of the United States, which has never adopted the Rome Statute and so is not a member of the court.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Trump was asked during a Feb. 4 news conference how much of Gaza\u2019s population he wanted to move, he said, \u201call of them,\u201d adding, \u201cI would think that they would be thrilled.\u201d When he was pressed on whether he would force them to go if they did not want to, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to tell me no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">U.S. allies and foes around the world, including France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Russia, and China, immediately and unequivocally condemned Mr. Trump\u2019s proposal. \u201cIn the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse,\u201d said Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, the U.N. secretary general. \u201cIt is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-1adfdfaa\">The right to return<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump\u2019s response to Fox News, saying that he did not plan to allow Gaza\u2019s population to return, nullifies what otherwise might have been the strongest legal defense of his plan: It is legal under the laws of war to temporarily evacuate civilians for their own safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even with a cease-fire in place, Gaza remains extremely dangerous to civilians because of unexploded bombs, many of them hidden beneath rubble or underground, as well as catastrophic damage to civilian necessities like shelter, water, and power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">However, Mr. Trump made clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to allow the Gazan population to return, even after those dangers have been cleared and the territory is once again safe, which would mean his plan could not be legally justified as a temporary safety measure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The \u201cright of return,\u201d the principle that all people have the right to enter their own country, is enshrined in multiple treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the United States has signed and ratified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That principle has also been one of the most contentious issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel has refused to allow the return of the approximately 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced out during the 1948 war that followed the creation of an independent Jewish state \u2014 a mass displacement that the Palestinians refer to as the \u201cnakba,\u201d or catastrophe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The question of whether those refugees and their descendants, now numbering in the millions, will be permitted to return to the territory that is now Israel has been one of the thorniest points of negotiation in the decades of peace talks that have sought to resolve the conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition, right-wing Israelis have waged a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/16\/magazine\/israel-west-bank-settler-violence-impunity.html\" title=\"\">decades-long effort<\/a> to build settlements within the West Bank and Gaza in order to lay claim to that land as part of Israel rather than a future Palestinian state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-a87ff91\">Seizure of territory<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Sunday, Mr. Trump reiterated his proposal for the United States to take over Gaza, telling reporters on Air Force One that the strip of land was \u201ca big real estate site\u201d that the United States was \u201cgoing to own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It would be a severe violation of international law for the United States to permanently take over the territory of Gaza. The prohibition against a nation forcibly annexing territory is one of the most <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4806600\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">important and foundational principles<\/a> of international law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s a clear rule,\u201d said Marko Milanovic, a professor of international law at the University of Reading in England. \u201cYou cannot conquer someone else\u2019s territory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is rare for states to violate that rule. When they have, as in the case of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, they have tended to claim at least some pretense of legality. Russian President Vladimir Putin <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/02\/world\/europe\/ukraine-un-court-genocide-russia.html\" title=\"\">claimed<\/a> that the invasion was necessary to protect the Russian-speaking population of eastern Ukraine from genocide by the Ukrainian government. Although that assertion was false, it paid lip service to the deeper principle that annexation for its own sake would be illegal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the case of Gaza, the specifics of that violation would depend partly on whether Palestine is considered a state, said Marko Milanovic, a professor of international law at the University of Reading in England. The United Nations recognizes Palestine as a permanent observer state, and 146 out of 193 U.N. member states recognize Palestinian statehood, but the United States and Israel do not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even if Gaza is not considered part of a state, U.S. annexation of the territory would still violate the civilian population\u2019s right to self-determination. The International Court of Justice has ruled twice that the Palestinian people are entitled to that right within Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf you take it without their consent, you\u2019re violating their right to self-determination,\u201d Professor Milanovic said. \u201cThere\u2019s really no doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-4572905e\">The role of international law<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump seemed unconcerned with how his proposal might be viewed by the institutions that underpin the international legal system, and he has shown disdain for those institutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, he announced sanctions against the International Criminal Court. On <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/04\/us\/politics\/trump-united-nations-unrwa.html\" title=\"\">Tuesday<\/a>, he signed an executive order calling for a general review of U.S. funding for and involvement in the United Nations, raising questions about the U.S. commitment to that global body. He also withdrew the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even if Mr. Trump\u2019s Gaza plan ultimately does not move forward, his attitude toward international law could have serious consequences for U.S. interests around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By appearing to disregard the value of those rules, Mr. Trump could send a message that he is not strongly committed to defending them in other contexts, such as a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Professor Dill said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf we live in a world where conquest is normalized and the legal rule is simply set aside, we live in a completely different world, in a world that\u2019s incredibly dangerous also for Americans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/11\/world\/middleeast\/international-law-trump-gaza.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump\u2019s proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and remove some two million Palestinians who live there would unquestionably be a severe violation of international law, experts say. As further details of his proposal emerge, the list of potential violations becomes even clearer. In a Fox News interview on Monday, Mr. Trump [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/05\/multimedia\/05interpreter-gaza-pwvk\/05interpreter-gaza-pwvk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[105474,163575,43,32652,67247,165768,27,3444,8527,22022,209,11805,52,1734,7204,128440],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236884,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236882\/revisions\/236884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}