2. The Palestinian People’s Self-Determination: A Right Linking a People and a Territory The Palestinian right to self-determination is a well-established legal fact that is recognized as an erga omnes peremptory norm. It has been acknowledged and recognized de jure long before the creation of Israel in 1948. Article 22 of the 1919 Covenant of the League of Nations considered Palestine as one of those “communities formerly belonging to the Turkish empire hav[ing] reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally […] subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such times as they are able to stand alone [emphasis added].”7 This language amounts to a form of external right to self-determination, namely a right for the Palestinian people to define their own political status, including establishing a state of their own. The United Nations has subsequently recognized the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination in numerous resolutions, including Resolution 2672(XXV) of 1970, Resolution 3236 (XXIX) of 1974, Resolution 66/146 of 2012, and Resolution 67/158 of 2013.8 Exercising Palestinian self-determination, per Common Article 1(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,9 encompasses two essential pillars: • 4 The free choice of political status – defined in terms of sovereign 7 League of Nations, Covenant of the League Nations, 28 April 1919, Article 22, available at: https://www. naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/australia-and-world/covenant-leaguenations [accessed 1 November 2021] 8 See UNGA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, A/ RES/2672(XXV), 8 December 1970, available at: https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/ E7C4B66C913EC0DC852560DE006E8F1B [accessed 1 November 2021]; UNGA, Question of Palestine, A/RES/3236(XXIX), 22 November 1974, available at: https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL. NSF/0/025974039ACFB171852560DE00548BBE [accessed 1 November 2021]; UNGA, Right of the Palestinian People to Self-Determination, A/RES/67/158, 26 February 2013, available at: https://unispal. un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/9EBA2C881717F7D485257B32004E7D4C [accessed 1 November 2021] 9 ICCPR, art.1(1) in supra 2; ICESCR, art.1(1) in supra 2.

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