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THE ILLEGITIMACY OF ISRAEL The people of Palestine have never given their consent to any transfer of title over their country nor have they recognized any sovereignty in the occu- pier. "In present day international law," observes Professor Schwarzenberger, "it is by itself not sufficient to transform wartime occupation into a transfer of sovereignty. Even in the relations between belligerents, not to speak of third States, the title requires to be consolidated by positive acts of recognition or consent or, at least, by acquiescence of the former territorial sovereign."³⁵ In the absence of international legal machinery available to the Palestinians to put an end to the usurpation of Palestine, one cannot really speak of laches or acquiescence or prescription. In these circumstances, neither the inalienable right of the Palestinians to their homeland nor the illegitimacy of Israel are eroded by time. ³⁵ G. Schwarzenberger, International Law, 3rd ed., p. 302.