The existence of large numbers of Palestinian refugees impedes the exercise of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. The right of self-determination is seriously impaired if the majority of the people concerned are unable to return to their homes from which they were forced to fled. The unique nature of the West Bank and Gaza situation is Israel's occupation and the question of how it is to be juxtaposted with the Palestinian right of self-determination. That is where the right of self-defence is considered. Such a right is not identical with state's security.
Security is a political and military interest which Israel has in common with all other states.
It is the reason advanced for Israel's refusal to withdraw from occupied Palestine. Self-defence and security are not identical, either in nature or content. It is not a claim that Israel is exercising its inherent legal right of self-defence by its continued occupation of Palestine. Such a claim would not correspond with the facts of the present situation. The continued occupation by Israel is not proportionate to the threat to it.