Can IHL address the needs of the Palestinian population?
The evolution of state practice, and the static nature of the law of occupation, has resulted in a growing gulf between the law and the practice of occupation. In particular, states no longer seem to consider military occupation strictly as a security tool. Since the occupation of Germany and Japan, the transformative objective is increasingly recognised as a legitimate motive of an Occupying Power by the international community when such occupation is endorsed by the UN Security Council, as part of its response to a threat to international peace and security. The success of such transformation is even seen as a prerequisite for bringing the occupation to an end (as in Iraq, under Resolutions 1483 and 1511). In addition, following the development of human rights and the recognition of the right of self-determination under the UN Charter, the international community no longer envisages simply handing back a territory to the former sovereign (as it did, for example, at the end of the Jap
