CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

Veronika D’Evereux CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ are not governed by the norms of international humanitarian law, but, on the contrary, by the national law of the state in whose territory the riots take place, and human rights law also applies. 30 These internal disturbances are most often manifested as open acts of violence, to be suppressed by the police or the army, mass arrests, etc. However, there must be more than public riots, isolated or sporadic acts of violence, or other acts. 31 When assessing the criterion of longevity, it is always necessary to consider specific circumstances, there is no minimum duration. The condition of organization is met if the parties to the conflict have an armed force similar to an army, which is subject to discipline and has its own responsible leadership. 32 In the author’s opinion, it is not possible to find examples of national armed conflicts in the territory of the State of Israel in recent practice. From the point of view of the State of Israel, the West Bank is not an occupied territory, but is a disputed territory, the State of Israel claims this territory based on religious, historical, and other (non-legally based) aspects. As stated above, this position is irrelevant from the point of view of international law. The question is whether it would be possible to include in this category at least some of the events of the two intifadas, which were officially led by the Palestine Liberation Organization, but in fact the Hamas movement also participated. However, these acts of violence took place mostly outside the territory of the State of Israel, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in East Jerusalem (two lastly mentioned territories are still under control of the State of Israel). The armed attacks during second intifada also took place in the territory of the State of Israel within the so-called green line, for example in the cities of Netanya, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Herzliya, in the western part of Jerusalem, and others. These were bomb attacks, suicide bombers, grenade, knife, firearms, and other attacks, the target of these attacks was in most cases the civilian population. Although these individual events are most often considered in their interrelationships, they are collectively referred to as intifada events, it would be problematic to apply the international law of national armed conflicts to these events, mainly due to the absence of cumulative fulfilment of three essential features, i.e., the intensity of the fighting, the long duration of the fighting, and the degree of organization or internal structure of the armed groups. Out of these conditions, the fulfilment of the first and second character could be problematic. On the other hand, in the author’s opinion, it would be possible to partially evaluate several other events such as internal disturbances and tension, but it is also important to note that some of these events took place in parts of the territory, which cannot be clearly considered the territory of the State of Israel, which is especially parts of East Jerusalem, historical parts of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and others. In these cases, there are often open forms of violence involving hundreds of people (often people of Arab descent who hold a permanent residence permit in Jerusalem) and members of the Israeli armed forces are used to suppress them. Also here, however, it is possible to ask the question of meeting the requirement of organization. It is often not clear whether these events occur rather spontaneously or whether these are organized group activities. In some cases, the Hamas movement, which several states consider a terrorist organization, 33 claimed

30 BÍLKOVÁ, op. cit. sub. 6, pp. 38–39. 31 Art. 1(2) Additional Protocol II of 1977, Art. 8(2) f ) ICJ Statute. 32 ONDŘEJ, ŠTURMA, BÍLKOVÁ, JÍLEK, op. cit. sub. 1, pp. 48–49.

33 In 2022, Australia added the entire Hamas movement to the list of terrorist organizations. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Canada, the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, and, of

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