Introduction 9 medicine, food and housing as a result of the siege imposed by Israel on the area, consolidated in June 2007. Legal History of Israeli Land Grab in Palestine The clear imbalance of power between Israel and the Palestinians facilitated the almost-successful implementation of the ideal vision of emptying the territory from its indigenous population. The Palestinian endeavor is to achieve and retain their rights as the victims of this Israeli policy. Thus, it is important to seek solutions rooted in a strict rights-based approach, rather than keep handling the features and outcomes of the illegal Israeli regime through a humanitarian emergency aid approach. A human rights-based approach that can lead to a sustainable and just peace for Palestinians should be based upon international law, the key principles of justice and equality for all. Therefore it necessarily should include: 1. Recognition of rights, in particular the Palestinian people’s right to self determination, the right of refugees and internally displaced persons to reparation (voluntary return, property restitution and/or compensations), the right of development (to freely dispose and enjoy the natural wealth and resources and cultural heritage) and the right to peace. 2. Addressing the root causes of the conflict: namely colonialism, institutionalized discrimination and occupation. These are the driving factors underpinning a range of human rights violations, such as the denial of displaced people’s right of return, illegal land confiscation, colonization and colony expansion14, home demolitions, ongoing forcible displacement, restrictions on freedoms of movement and so forth. 3. Ensuring rights for all parties and victims without discrimination and without causing injustice or mass displacement/elimination of the other while enabling rights-holders to exercise their legitimate and legal rights. 4. Setting the foundations for peaceful and cooperative relations between people, groups, individuals and states. This will be an intrinsic component of a just peace and is essential for reconciliation, which in turn will be achieved through implementing transitional justice (both judicial and nonjudicial) mechanisms and tools, including criminal prosecution, reparations, institutional reform and truth commissions. In both the State of Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territory, land and planning laws and military orders as well as emergency regulations have played a central role 14 Colonies refer to the illegally-built Israeli settlements throughout the occupied Palestinian territory.