A/HRC/10/8/Add.2 page 6 Palestinian Territory of certain rules of international humanitarian law and human rights instruments, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 9 July 2004, where this issue is discussed in detail.3 III. DOMESTIC LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF 10. Due to its history and various transition provisions, the domestic legal framework is characterised by a mosaic of applicable laws. In addition to laws enacted by the State of Israel during the past 60 years, the legal framework also includes laws from the Ottoman rule (1516-1917) and from the British mandate period (1920-1948) as well as religious laws and English laws, including the “substance of common law and the doctrines of equity in force in England”.4 11. Already the League of Nations’ Palestine Mandate of 24 July 1922 prohibited discrimination on religious grounds and addressed issues such as free access to the holy places, religious buildings and sites and the free exercise of worship. Furthermore, the 1922 Palestine Order-in-Council stipulated that all persons in Palestine shall enjoy full liberty of conscience and free exercise of their forms of worship subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals. 12. On 14 May 1948, Jewish communities of the dissolved British mandate of Palestine declared the establishment of a Jewish State, to be known as the State of Israel. This Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel also provides that the State of Israel “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions”. 13. The 1948 Law and Administration Ordinance No. 1 stipulates that the law which existed in Palestine on 14 May 1948 shall remain in force, insofar as there is nothing therein repugnant to this Ordinance or to the other laws which may be enacted by or on behalf of the Provisional Council of State, and subject to such modifications as may result from the establishment of the State and its authorities. 14. The 1950 Law of Return provides that every Jew has the right to come to Israel as an oleh (immigrant to Israel). An oleh’s visa shall be granted to every Jew who has expressed his desire to settle in Israel, unless the Minister of Interior is satisfied that the applicant is engaged in an activity directed against the Jewish people or is likely to endanger public health or the security of 3 International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004, pages 171-181, paras. 86-113. 4 Article 46 of the 1922 Palestine Order-in-Council, which was later absorbed into the law of the State of Israel by section 11 of the 1948 Law and Administration Ordinance No. 1.

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