This talk will address recent developments regarding international law and the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. More specifically it will discuss the evolving trends in the context of international law and Palestine, both in the international and the Israeli legal arenas.
In the past few decades, we have been witnessing three parallel processes in relation to international law and Palestine. The first is related to policies of Israeli governments regarding the occupied territories, including decisions related to the Gaza Strip since October 2023; the second is taking place in the Israeli legal arena, and in particular the Israeli Supreme Court, which continues to produce and export interpretations that distort many aspects of international law; and the third is taking place in international tribunals, such as the International Court of Justice (the advisory opinions regarding the separation wall, the legality of the continued occupation, the South African case on the question of genocide in Gaza, and the pending advisory opinion on obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations in relation to the OPT) and developments in the international criminal court. The presentation will discuss these developments, their meanings and interrelationships, and the opportunities they create globally.
Suhad Bishara holds a PhD from King’s College School of Law in London, LL.M. in Public Service Law from New York University School of Law, and LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was also Palestine & Law Fellow at Columbia University Law School. She is the legal director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and has more than 24 years of experience litigating cases before the Israeli Supreme Court in major human rights cases regarding Palestinian citizens of Israel and international humanitarian law cases concerning Palestinians in the 1967 Occupied Territory. In the academic year 2024/25, she is a EUME Fellow.
Florian Meinel is a professor of comparative constitutional law and political science at the University of Göttingen and is currently (2024-5) a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study. His research interests include constitutional law and its political theory, the history of political thought, and issues of law and political economy.
Pleaser register in advance via eume(at)trafo-berlin.de. Depending on approval by the speaker(s), the Berliner Seminar will be recorded. All audio recordings of the Berliner Seminar are available on SoundCloud.