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Yes, Israel Can Apply Israeli Law to the West Bank

JL;DR SUMMARY Eugene Kontorovich argues that Israel's application of Israeli civil law to the West Bank is not annexation, as the area was not sovereign Jordanian territory when Israel gained control in 1967. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Judea And SamariaWest BankInternational LawOttoman EmpireAnnexationSovereigntyJordanLeague Of NationsUti Possidetis Juris

Places mentioned

Israel
"I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, President Donald Trump said in response to a question from a journalist last September."
Palestinian Territories
"President Donald Trump said in response to a question from a journalist last September."
Crimea, Ukraine
"Yet the international community rightly considers Russias annexation illegal and regards it as Ukrainian territory to this daybecause of the uti possidetis principle."
Dutch New Guinea, Papua, Indonesia
"Indonesias 1962 takeover of the similarly orphaned Dutch New Guinea colony gained universal acceptance."
Vietnam
"North Vietnams forcible incorporation of the entire country of South Vietnam, against the passionately expressed views of its residents, has long been universally accepted, no doubt because of Hanois long-standing claims to sovereignty."
Armenia
"Or consider Karabakh, a majority Armenian region within Azerbaijan with a deep Armenian history, which Yerevan took control of in a war with Azerbaijan at the time of the countries independence."
Turkey
"For many centuries, up until 1918, the entire Levant belonged to the Turkish Ottoman Empire."
Jordan
"The Jews accepted this proposal, which had no legal basis in the terms of the mandate but was seen at the time as an attempt to peacefully accommodate the existing balance of power."

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Cairo Item ID 73669
Cairo Source ID 10
Retrieved 2026-01-28 05:30:55 UTC
Curated 2026-01-28 08:33:13 UTC