Wait, you're saying that because Israel isn't moving citizens into the WB, and it's being done voluntarily, then that makes it legal?

First I've heard of this interpretation of international law, interesting.

How does incentivizing civilians financially to move there fit into this? How does protecting civilians via the military fit into this?

  > Wait, you're saying that because Israel isn't moving citizens into the WB, and it's being done voluntarily, then that makes it legal?

Yes. That is both the letter of the law and the intent of the law. That was the specific case with the Germans for whom this law was introduced, and that is how it has been applied in other areas as well.

  > How does incentivizing civilians financially to move there fit into this? How does protecting civilians via the military fit into this?

There is no financial incentive, other than far more general financial considerations such as the expense of living in e.g. Tel Aviv. But one could move to Dimina, Eilat, or Kiryat Shmona for the same reasons - there is nothing special about the West Bank financially. As for the military protecting civilians, does not every military protecting it's civilians? When I was serving, we would protect Arab civilians just like we would protect Jewish civilians. The Arab clan wars are seldom discussed, but are a far greater cause of casualties than the Arab-Israeli conflict excluding wars.

> Yes. That is both the letter of the law and the intent of the law. That was the specific case with the Germans for whom this law was introduced, and that is how it has been applied in other areas as well.

Do you know of a good place to read about this?

> There is no financial incentive, other than far more general financial considerations such as the expense of living in e.g. Tel Aviv

This seems false to me. I don't know many details, but it's pretty often discussed that there are different incentives. I can link you to a B'Tselem report about this, but I assume you dislike them as much as I do. So here's instead a CBS story about there being financial incentives to encourage settlers (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli-govt-offers-incentives-...).

And if that doesn't work for you, here's a Hebrew-language source about why there's been a rise in home purchases in the WB: https://bizreef.co.il/%D7%94%D7%96%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A7-%...

I'll quote a few relevant sentences (translated to English):

> For example, the government eased the rules for obtaining loans to purchase properties in the area. Additionally, it lowered the taxes on property purchases. Moreover, the government created incentives for entrepreneurs to build in the area.

> As for the military protecting civilians, does not every military protecting it's civilians?

Of course, but the specific accusation against settlers is that they go and build settlements, sometimes purposefully to disrupt Palestinian villages, and then the army has to go surround them and protect them, disrupting the villages more.

There have been numerous terrible incidents, since October 7th, of settlers using various forms of intimidation to drive out Palestinians, e.g. setting houses on fire, sometimes while being protected (but not stopped) by the IDF.

None of this addresses the resettlement or removal of existing people, which is plainly a violation of article 49.

Establishment of settlements is also at least tacitly, and in some cases explicitly, supported by the government, which undercuts the claim that this is citizens acting solely of their own accord.

  > None of this addresses the resettlement or removal of existing people, which is plainly a violation of article 49.

Yes, you are correct. The people who already live on land are protected from displacement by an occupying power.

If you have specific incidents of displacement that you word like me to address, I'll do that. The recent Sheik Jarrah incident that made international headlines was a property dispute - in fact a terrific example if you want to discuss it as the Jordanian occupation displaced the Jewish family living there.