Important for Jews
I think that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, like all Jews, has the absolute right to visit the Temple Mount, even if he makes some provocative statements (“Ben-Gvir’s Temple Mount visit draws international condemnation,” May 22).
And if Ben-Gvir truly believes that visiting the Temple Mount is important for Jews, then I think that he should do it every week or so, until it becomes a regular act and is no longer newsworthy – which, of course, is contrary to his aim.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller should refer to Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, an international treaty that all 193 members are required to obey as well as the Palestine Mandate in the League of Nations which is incorporated by reference into Article 80.
Article 80 declares all of what is Israel including Judea and Samaria to be the reconstituted homeland of the Jewish people, recognizing the Jewish people’s 4000year presence on the land, and the land as sovereign Jewish territory. Simply put, one cannot occupy one’s own sovereign territory.
Mr. Miller and his State Department colleagues might want to study the words of Eugene Rostow, dean of Yale Law School (1955-1965) and under secretary of state in a Democratic administration (1965-1969):
“Legally the West Bank and Gaza are unallocated parts of the Palestine Mandate... and as far as the claims of the Arabs who live there goes, it must be remembered that, in contrast to other League of Nations mandates, the Palestine Mandate was not established as a trust for the indigenous population of the area, to be terminated when the population was ready for self government.
“It was set up under a different article of the League Covenant as a trust for the Jewish people, in recognition of their historic connection to the land on the condition that the civic and religious rights of the Muslims and Christians be respected.
“Moreover the right of the Jewish people to settle in the West Bank has never been terminated... Jewish settlement in the West Bank... is... the exercise of a right protected by Article 80 of the United Nations Charter and hence necessarily part of the domestic law of the West Bank.” (Eugene Rostow, Commentary magazine, October 1989)
RICHARD SHERMAN Margate, Florida