What is a military occupation? Which laws apply?
During World War II, the Axis powers (notably Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan) seized and occupied countries and territories without concern for the health, safety, and basic rights of the people living in those lands. By the end of World War II, the world had seen enough of this behavior and wished to put an end to it.
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, representatives from 63 nations met in Geneva, Switzerland, to address international laws regarding war and conflict. They were concerned that the existing laws to protect civilians and soldiers in times of conflict needed to be updated. The document they forged—the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949—to this day is the most important document governing the protection of civilians and soldiers in areas of active armed conflict as well as areas of military occupation.
The convention describes a military occupation as the following: whenever one country—the occupying power—“exercises the functions of government” in the land it occupies. All the laws of the convention remain in effect as long as an occupying power continues to exercise the functions of government in the occupied territory.
Israel signed the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949 and ratified it “without any reservation” in 1951. As one of 196 states to sign onto the convention, Israel is required to follow its laws.