Occupation

Volume 94 Number 885 Spring 2012meaning than the term ‘public order and safety’. 60 It includes all aspects of public orcivil life. As explained in a subsequent judgment of the HCJ, the term ‘public life’includes ‘conducting a proper administration on all its branches accepted nowadaysin a well-functioning country, including security, health, education, welfare andalso, inter alia, quality of life and transportation ...’. 61 The Court held that thenotions of ‘proper administration’ cannot be gauged by the laissez-faire concepts ofgovernment that were prevalent when the Hague Regulations were adopted. Theyare those that are suited to ‘a modern and civilized state at the end of the twentiethcentury’. 62 What interests are involved in assessing the welfare of the local Palestinianpopulation? Generally the Court regards only their narrow economic and materialwelfare, and ignores issues connected with their political interests in avoiding majorchanges that further the integration of the West Bank with Israel. Thus, for example,in the Hebron Electricity case, the HCJ accepted that attaching the West Bank cityof Hebron to the Israeli national electricity grid was for the good of the localpopulation since it would guarantee a reliable source of electricity. 63 Only in onecase, which also dealt with supply of electricity, did the Court take an entirelydifferent approach. Relying on Article 43, the HCJ held that the decision of themilitary commander to place supply of electricity to most of the West Bank in thehands of the Israel Electricity Company rather than the local Palestinian companywas unlawful. It explained that, given the importance of electricity, placing thesupply of electricity in the hands of a supplier from outside the OT ‘has implicationsthat go beyond the economic and technical aspects of the matter’. 64 This decisionwas a voice in the wilderness.Examining the Court’s attitude to the duty to ensure ‘public order andpublic life’ has been complicated by two phenomena: the long-term nature of theoccupation and the presence in the OT of Israeli settlers and other Israelis whotravel through the area.Long-term occupationIn the Elon Moreh case, Justice Landau held thatno military government may create in its area facts for its military purposes thatare intended from the very start to exist even after the termination of themilitary rule in that area, when the fate of the territory after termination of themilitary rule is unknown. 6560 See Y. Dinstein, above note 1, p. 89.61 Tabeeb case, above note 56, p. 629.62 Jami’at Ascan case, above note 5, p. 800.63 Hebron Electricity case, above note 3.64 HCJ 351/80, Electricity Company for Jerusalem District v. Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, 35(2) PD,p. 673, 1981, p. 692. For discussion of the difference in the judicial approach between the two electricitysupply cases, see D. Kretzmer. above note 2, pp. 64–68.65 Elon Moreh case, above note 25, p. 22.219