The Palestinian Right to Exploit the Dead Sea Coastline for Tourism

Scholars in the past decades have paid little attention to the exploitation of the Dead Sea coastline for tourism purposes. The Dead Sea’s Israeli and Jordanian shores are famous touristic attractions at the basis of a quickly expanding industry. In contrast, the Palestinian portion of the Dead Sea coastline is not exploited for tourism; it falls into the so-called Area C of the West Bank, where the government of Israel maintains total control and construction permits for tourism-related investments have been constantly denied to Palestinian investors. The present essay aims to analyse the Palestinian right to exploit the Dead Sea coastline in light of the relevant international law framework, based on international humanitarian law, on the principles of self-determination of peoples, and of permanent sovereignty over natural resources. Moreover, the situation will be evaluated in light of the Oslo accords, which embody provisions regarding the Palestinian Dead Sea exploitation. The result of the analysis is that, according to international law, Palestinian investors have the right to exploit the Dead Sea coastline, which falls into the West Bank. Israel, as an occupying power, cannot deny the Palestinians access to their coastline, and its current policy rises to the level of an international wrongful act