December 6, 2017, President Trump announced the decision to move the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem, formally declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital. This move, again, made a big splash. Historically, both Israelis and Palestinians have claimed Jerusalem to be their capital. The sovereignty to East Jerusalem, part of the West Bank, is especially under dispute between the two peoples. Coincidentally, 2017 also witnessed the 50th anniversary of Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, home to approximately six million Palestinians. 50 years has passed but the question remains: Is the Israeli occupation justified by the international law? And if not, which law does it violate? The origins of modern Israel and Palestine: two peoples, one home The root of the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict lay in the Balfour Declaration that the British government issued in 1926 to state its support for the establishment of a “national home […]