Question 1. Are Israeli settlements in the West Bank legal under international law? Answer: The answer may surprise you. The statement “illegal settlements” is constantly repeated by the media, university professors, diplomats and presidents, but the actual answer is that they are not illegal. The land in dispute, what is called the West Bank and East Jerusalem, were part of Judea (Israel) in ancient times, and were conquered several times. It was last conquered and became a province of the Ottoman Empire. In the first world war the Ottoman Empire was defeated and the area became part of the British Mandate of Palestine, along with what is now Jordan. When the League of Nations voted to recreate Israel as the home of the indigenous Jews, and Israel was declared of state in 1948, the West Bank was part of Israel (the British having excised the area East of the Jordan River to create what is now Jordan), while Jerusalem was declared in international city. The Arab League invaded and conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegally annexing it in 1950, a move recognised on by Britain and Pakistan. When the Arabs once again declared war on Israel in 1967, the area was retaken by the Israelis. Thus, the land may be considered to be disputed but it is not illegally held. Jews, who were expelled from the area in 1948, began to voluntarily move back in. Some people cite the UN Convention which forbids forcible movement of populations into conquered land however the land is not illegally conquered, and the Jews moving into the area did so voluntarily. What is referred to as the 1967 borders are not the real borders of Israel but the 1948 armistice lines, which were never meant to be final borders. The belief that the settlements are illegal is based on propaganda together with the adage that a lie repeated often enough will be believed to be true.