Are human rights norms applicable to occupied territories in general, and to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in particular? The article examines the controversy that had arisen between Israel and the UN treaty monitoring bodies in relation to this question and critically analyzes Israel's three objections to such applicability: 1) the mutual exclusivity of humanitarian regime and human rights regime in occupied territories, the former being thus the only applicable law; 2) a restrictive interpretation of the jurisdictional provisions treaties; and 3) the lack of effective control in some of the territories. The article posits that the universal object and purpose of human rights treaties, which inform the proper interpretation of their jurisdictional clauses, require their applicability in all territories subject to the effective control of the state parties, as well as to other extra-territorial exercises of government power directly affecting individuals. Consequently, international human rights law and international humanitarian law apply in occupied territories in parallel and not to the exclusion of one another. This position is confirmed by extensive practice of the international human rights monitoring bodies, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and by some decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court. In conclusion, the paper posits that Israel's refusal to apply the six principal human rights treaties to which it is party to the Occupied Territories is incompatible with its international law obligations and proceeds to propose modalities for the co-application of both human rights and humanitarian law in occupied territories.

Traditional legal doctrine pictures land ownership in the form of a cone down to the center of the earth. This article suggests that it is desirable for the law to enable subsurface subdivision into separate, three-dimensional property units, constituting separate subjects for title and transactions. Thus the law would contribute to the public interest in recognizing the subsurface space as a separate property unit from both the functional and the planning aspects.

Before three-dimensional registration can begin, it is necessary to create an infrastructure of professional standards for three-dimensional survey for registration purposes. The creation of such standards constitutes one of the main goals of the world survey profession.

It may be assumed that there is a downward limit below which the subsurface has no effect on the surface space and vice versa. In this case, the traditional doctrine may be seriously contested by the argument that those deep levels of the earth should be defined as a collective property. However, it is not practical to establish a fixed downward limit upon ownership of subsurface space. When expropriating the subsurface, it is necessary to compensate the landowner for the consequential damage, as well as for the direct damage incurred. There is some doubt whether compensation should be paid for subsurface area that the landowner could not reasonably and practically exploit. As soon as the axiomatic impediment to three-dimensional subdivision is removed, the importance of long-term planning for subsurface use will increase.

This paper examines the historical background and the social processes that have changed the perception of child abuse in Israel from almost complete lack of awareness to concern and formal societal reaction during the 1990s. The recent emergence of child abuse as a social problem and the consequent actions of scrutiny and surveillance through legislation, law enforcement, punishment and educational prevention is set within the cultural milieu of the past two decades. This sociological analysis shows that there was a gradual transition from a private condition to a public “social problem”. The social actors involved in this process primarily included social workers, professional educators, academics, the daily press, members of Israel's Parliament and law enforcement agents.

For various scholars and professionals, the incident that triggered awareness and concern about child abuse in general and child sexual abuse in particular was the tragic death of young Moran Denemias in 1989. However, in our paper we posit that this single tragic incident in itself did not prompt officials or the general public to view it as part of a larger problem. The general political tendency to overreact to the emerging issue of abuse, and the rapidity with which the Law for the Prevention of Abuse of Minors and Helpless Persons was passed at the end of the 1980s can be explained by a general moral sentiment that matured decades earlier.