Last modified: 2026-09-05 by martin karner
Keywords: judea and samaria district | mekhoz yehuda veshomeron | yehuda veshomeron |
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Israeli municipalities in West Bank areas seized from Jordan and occupied since 1967 cannot register
their emblems. The reason is that those areas are not legally
part of Israel and according to international law they are
governed by decrees of the military commander of the areas. Many
Israeli laws are in force in those municipalities when adopted
there by the military commander, but the Symbols/Emblems Protection Act of 1974
is not one of them.
Dov Gutterman, 19 January 2003
Israeli local authorities in the areas of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) that have been under
Israeli control since 1967 are subject to a special legal framework rather than directly to Israeli
municipal law. Their administration is based primarily on orders issued by the Israeli military commander
and on bylaws enacted on that basis for the Israeli local authorities.
Israel's Symbols Protection Law, 1974 does not apply there automatically. In Israel proper, the law
provides for the legal protection of municipal coats of arms and flags through an appropriate order issued
by the Minister of the Interior. The Israeli local authorities in Judea and Samaria, by contrast, are s
ubject to a separate legal framework.
The municipalities there can therefore certainly have and use their own coats of arms or emblems. However,
these are not necessarily municipal coats of arms within the meaning of the 1974 Israeli law and do not
necessarily enjoy the statutory protection provided by that law. The statement that such municipalities
"cannot register their emblems" is therefore too broad. It would be more precise to say that their
formal adoption and legal protection are governed differently and that they do not receive protection
under Israel's 1974 Symbols Protection Law in the same manner as the symbols of local authorities within
Israel proper.
Martin Karner
These local authorities are in the 'C' areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This makes reference to the classification:
Nathan Lamm, 13 November 2001
