Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank: - Jerusalem Center For ...

page 32it is therefore suggested that initially the convoys shouldbe smaller than fifteen trucks, so as to minimize waitingtime. 179 Indeed, initially the convoys could be madeavailable to well established trucking companies only,and pre-cleared drivers. From this it could eventuallybe expanded to all trucking companies and drivers. 180With such an expansion there should be an advancedreservation system, where to make a reservation onewould have to provide information about the driver,vehicle, and cargo aboard. 181 This too could minimizedelays and waiting time.Once bus convoys are operational, convoys usingPalestinian passenger vehicles can be introduced. Thesepose the greatest security challenge, as each vehicle willhave to undergo a security check. As with bus convoys,the security aspect of passenger vehicle convoys shouldbe managed by a private Israeli security firm, which couldeither simply check the convoys, or could both check andescort the convoys.Such a system is reminiscent of a recommendation of the1937 (British Mandatory Government) Peel Commission,which suggested the partition of mandatory Palestineinto two states -- a Palestinian Arab State and a JewishState. Under this recommendation, the Jewish Statewould have been non-contiguous. Therefore the PeelCommission recommended some sort of travel corridorthat would connect the parts of the Jewish State. TheCommission asserted that an open travel corridor “wouldalso solve the problem, sometimes said to be insoluble,created by the contiguity of Jaffa with Tel Aviv to the northand the nascent Jewish town to the south. If necessary,Mandatory police could be stationed on this belt. Thisarrangement may seem artificial, but it is clearlypracticable.” 182 This arrangement, even if artificial, wasaccepted by the Jewish Agency but rejected by the Arabswho did not want a ‘Jewish passage’ running throughtheir territory. Some such similar arrangement could inthe future be required of Israel.Vehicle clearance will involve two stages. The first willbe concerned with the roadworthiness of the vehicle,and whether the vehicle meets Israeli vehicle and safetyrequirements. Once a vehicle passes through this stage,there will also be a physical security check. Only uponcompletion of both stages will a car be allowed to usethe passage. 184The actual form that the passage will take is a technicalpoint. Some argue that it should take the form of atunnel, others an ordinary highway, others an elevatedhighway, and yet others a railroad. Whatever form thepassage takes will likely depend on Israel’s securityconsiderations and the financial costs. The question ofunder whose sovereignty the mode of passage will fall isan essential consideration.E. Questions of Safe Passage1. SovereigntyIn spatial terms international law recognizes four typesof territorial regime. These are territorial sovereignty,territory that is not subject to the sovereignty of anystate or states and has a status of its own (for example,mandated territories), res nullius (territory that issusceptible to acquisition by states but over which noone as yet has sovereignty or control) and res communis(communal land belonging to the world population andnot capable of being placed under state sovereignty; forexample, the seas and outer space). 185 It is with territorialsovereignty that we are concerned.Territorial sovereignty is not only used as a descriptionof the legal personality of the state. It is also used as areference to the normal complement of rights that attachto the state -- a state’s legal competence. These rightsare indefeasible except by special consent of the stateconcerned. 186 Thus, Professor Brierly defined territorialsovereignty not in terms of the independence of the state,but rather in terms of the existence of plenary rightsover a state’s territory. 187 Such rights apply primarilywith respect to the state’s landed territory, but also tothe sea adjacent to the land and the seabed and subsoilof the territorial sea. 188