'West Bank not within Israeli jurisdiction'

Jerusalem District Court Judge Boaz Okun set a judicial precedent on Sunday when he asserted that Israel did not have legal jurisdiction over Palestinian territories, since the Palestinian Authority has effectively attained the main criteria defining an independent state. According to Okun, the Palestinian Authority has been gaining a status of an autonomous entity "that cannot be ignored." This had been particularly evident after the disengagement from Gaza in August, 2005.