The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has the right to exercise its sovereignty over the lands of the West Bank.

This came as part of the response of Yossi Fox, the Israeli government secretary and prime minister, in an official letter sent in the name of Benjamin Netanyahu to the Adalah organization, which complained to his office last March about the cabinet's decision to legalize 9 outposts.

Fox responded with the message on behalf of Netanyahu: Jordan illegally seized the lands of the West Bank at the end of the mandate, and it was not legitimate, and it did not have sovereignty over those areas, and therefore Israel legally owns the lands, and has the right to sovereignty over them.

He added, as reported by the Hebrew website Ynet, "These lands are the cradle of the history of the Jewish people and an integral part of the Land of Israel," noting that the outposts were legalized legally and based on legal advice from the security establishment.

And he continued in his message on behalf of Netanyahu: Jordan illegally seized the lands of the West Bank at the end of the British Mandate, and the countries of the world considered it occupying these lands between 1948 and 1967, and therefore what was established for it had no legitimacy.

He pointed out that the outposts that have been legalized fall within the jurisdiction of the regional councils of West Bank settlements, and that they are "state lands."

Regarding Adalah's consideration that this is a violation of international law, Fox replied on behalf of Netanyahu: "I would like to point out that the right of international law for the Jewish people is well established in the mandate document that was unanimously approved by the League of Nations at the Remo Conference in 1920, which was based on the Balfour Declaration, and was Determining these areas to re-establish a national home for the Jewish people, and there is recognition of the right of the Jewish people to this land, and these matters were confirmed in the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, and the San Francisco Conference in 1945, and at that time the proposals of the Arab countries to exclude the mandate were rejected, and it was confirmed that it is a land Israel and its historical right, and therefore these rights of the Jewish people have not and will never be confiscated.

Fox also rejected in the reply letter that this constituted a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the regulations appended to the Hague Convention, saying: "It will become clear in the end that Jordan was not a legitimate sovereign, while the laws of military occupation are applied only in the occupied territories of a legitimate sovereign state, However, Israel practically applies the humanitarian provisions of the treaty to the Arabs in the West Bank to respond to their rights, and in any case, it must be emphasized that the decision is consistent with the law in force in the West Bank, according to the rulings of the High Court of Justice, because according to what was stated in the government's decision, it is It is about the legalization of settlements on state land or with the consent of the land owners, not the confiscation of private property, and this is based on a written mandate that establishes the right of the Jewish people to the land, and this right can never be revoked."

Fox concluded in his message on behalf of Netanyahu: "Israel does not occupy lands, but owns its lands according to the law, and this decision does not change the customary law in force in the West Bank and in accordance with international law."