The Legal Challenges of Israel's Seizure of Water Resources in the West Bank and Its Impact on Human Rights: An Analytical Study from an International Law Perspective رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This legal study examines Israel‘s control over water resources in the West Bank as a core mechanism of prolonged occupation that violates jus cogens norms and undermines the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people. Utilizing a comparative legal framework, it interrogates the right to water under occupation, linking it to principles of permanent sovereignty over natural resources and the legal obligations of occupying powers. Water is analyzed not merely as an environmental asset but as a political tool that reshapes power dynamics between colonizer and colonized. Special attention is given to the Oslo Accords particularly Article 40 of the 1995 Oslo II Agreement highlighting how transitional arrangements evolved into restrictive legal frameworks that entrenched structural dependency. Institutions such as the Joint Water Committee failed to safeguard Palestinian water rights and instead institutionalized asymmetry in favor of the occupying power. The study also assesses the limited impact of international judicial mechanisms, noting the inaction of bodies like the ICC and ICJ, and stresses the need to expand the use of environmental legal advocacy and strategic litigation. In light of persistent violations including water denial and environmental harm the study calls for a comprehensive Palestinian legal strategy that reclaims water sovereignty as integral to the right of self-determination. Ultimately, it offers a reorientation of international legal discourse toward confronting the colonial structure itself, advancing a rights-based approach to environmental justice under occupation