ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how the extraterritorial reach of Israeli jurisdiction over Palestinian land and people contributes to the annexation of Palestine. It investigates how Israel acquires and consolidates control over Palestinian land, both private and public, through extraterritorial jurisdiction. The chapter presents the legal framework within which Israel is gradually taking possession of the West Bank. It describes how extraterritorial jurisdiction, as a core expression of the Israeli state in the West Bank, may operate as a tool of territorial conquest. The extraterritorial jurisdiction of the Israeli Supreme Court to assert civilizational superiority over land struggles in the occupied Palestinian territories is a fitting example of the process. The Israeli Supreme Court’s exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction over matters involving Palestinian rights and land contributes to the construction of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank. The practice of extraterritorial jurisdiction in the West Bank is an assertion of sovereignty backed by the military threat inherent in the fifty-year occupation.
