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In addition, international humanitarian and human rights laws apply, according to the UN General Assembly, ICRC, and independent judicial bodies. "Israel's claim that customary and conventional human rights laws do not apply to the OPT as the Palestinian population is not within its sovereign territory has been almost universally refuted."
Forcible Transfer
Under Fourth Geneva's Article 4, Latroun villagers were protected persons prohibited from being forcibly displaced, yet they were and prevented from returning.
This principle goes back to the 1863 Lieber Code that says "private citizens are no longer (to be) carried off to distant parts," and the Hague Regulations state that "the practice of deporting persons was regarded at the beginning of (the 20th) century as having fallen into abeyance," stopping just short of prohibition but inferring that interning or expelling civilians falls below minimal civilized standards and are hence unacceptable and effectively illegal.
Israel is bound under international law but disregards it nonetheless. Yet two weeks after the Six-Day War ended, serious cabinet debate considered compliance because keeping legitimate residents displaced served no military or security purpose. Nonetheless, Latroun ones lost everything, so for them the consequences were grim. Families were separated and unprotected, and accounts reported road side deaths from exhaustion and exposure.
The ICRC's Appeals Chamber (ICTY) emphasized the link between prohibiting deportation, forced transfer, and residents' right to their property stating:
The "protection interests underlying the prohibition against deportation include the right of the victim to stay in his or her home and community and the right not to be deprived of his or her property by being forcibly displaced to another location." Latroun villagers lost everything. For some, including their lives.
Property Destruction and Appropriation
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