EARLY ON THE morning of Jan. 18 I heard the rumbling of the Israeli tanks as they rolled into the residential neighborhood in which I live, reoccupying about half of Ramallah, territory they had withdrawn from six years ago.

They continued down the road to the apartment block where my brother lives. The owner of the top apartment was away. They occupied it, hoisted the Israeli flag, and placed sandbags in the windows and three tanks in the driveway.

The second night there was much shooting as my brother's family huddled in the corridor. Shots came through the windows into their house. His children's stomachs gave in, and they both began to throw up. They could not take another night like this. They packed up and went to stay with my mother. For the son of a Jaffa refugee to leave his house under Israeli fire is no simple matter. It brings painful memories of the 1948 exodus, which Palestinians can never forget.

Both my brother and I lived under Israeli military occupation for many decades. What makes this reoccupation different and more frightening is the absence of clarity as to Israel's status in these newly occupied areas. What characterized Israeli past actions was attention to legal formalities. If they impounded a building they would present an order citing what in their view was the legal basis under military law for such action. Not this time. The entire presence of the newly occupying forces is without any apparent legal basis. This makes it more capricious.

This latest Israeli incursion into Ramallah and other Palestinian towns and the concomitant restrictions on Palestinian life followed the strange declaration by the Israeli government that Chairman Arafat is irrelevant.

What this declaration really meant was that Israel considers the Oslo Accords themselves, signed by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, to be irrelevant.

As a lawyer and proponent of the rule of law, I have often been frustrated with the Palestinian Authority. I have worried and written about the flaws and inequalities in the Oslo Accords. But international agreements should not be unilaterally abrogated leaving a legal vacuum.

Which law now governs those neighborhoods and villages that have been occupied? To whom can one turn to complain about the absence of basic services? What law allows the Israeli soldier standing in the tank to place the inhabitants of these areas under curfew? Who is now responsible in these areas for health, education, and social services which under Oslo had been transferred to the Palestinian Authority - Israel or the Palestinian Authority?

The Israeli government has indicated its unhappiness with the Oslo Accords and has clearly pursued a course of trying to sidestep them. The recent occupation of Palestinian towns is a flagrant violation of these agreements. What is also emerging is that Israel's preferred condition, at least for the present, is to destroy the Palestinian Authority and recapture territories placed under its full jurisdiction. At the same time Israel seems interested in placing its army in a position whereby it can exercise full powers as a de facto occupier without having the responsibilities and restrictions placed by international law on an occupying force. This leaves us, the Palestinian civilian population, in a legal limbo without the protection of international law.

Under the present conditions external powers play a decisive role.

Failure to act gives Israel the wrong message that they can pursue actions illegal under international law with impunity. So far the United States seems to play into the hands of the Israeli right wing who, despite Israel's dire economic situation, continue to pour funds into the illegal settlements.

Whatever the shortcomings of the Palestinian Authority it remains the only elected authority, a fact that can only be changed by proper legal means. Absence of a constitutional transition may well drive the country into civil war. This may seem convenient to those in Israel bent on preserving the illegal settlements. It cannot be good for the peace of the region or the world.