international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory and are as such illegal under customary international law. Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Modi'in Illit was granted city status in 2008, by Aluf Gadi Shamni. The Israeli NGO B'Tselem appealed the decision to the Ministry of Interior. B'Tselem claimed that the upgrading of Modi'in Illit's status to that of a municipality was of concern because the land on which Mod'in Illit was built was declared state land through a manipulative application of Ottoman Law, resulting in the confiscation of lands belonging to neighbouring Palestinian villages. B'Tselem also stated that the upgraded status would lead to an increase of the settler population of Modi'in Illit, and thus the change in status would be illegal. For these reasons, B'Tselem expressed "vehement opposition" to the change of status. In connection with separate allegations that the city has allowed illegal construction to take place, the Israel Defense Forces told Israel's Interior Ministry in May 2008 that Modi'in Illit was "in a state of lawlessness." Israel's West Bank Barrier passes just east of Modi'in Illit. The barrier's section in this area was built to separate the Modi'in bloc settlements of Mattityahu, Modi'in Illit and Hashmona'im from the Palestinian villages of Bil'in and others. The Israeli government believes that Modi'in Illit would remain within Israeli jurisdiction in a final-status agreement with the Palestinians. Attack on residents On the morning of 29 December 2008, a Palestinian worker who had worked in the settlement of Modi'in Illit for more than a decade attacked four Jewish Israelis, leaving one victim seriously and three others lightly wounded. He first stabbed two people for whom he was carrying out renovations in a private home on Rehov Yehuda Hanassi, wounding them lightly, and then stabbed and seriously wounded his Israeli employer who was overseeing the work. After stabbing a fourth person at a different location, he was shot and seriously wounded by a settlement security official and Magen David Adom volunteer as he attempted to flee out of the settlement. Reportedly, the assailant had