Search: palestine icc
26 Aug Structuring a Peace Process
...negotiations will be hampered by the lack of a really representative Palestinian government. “That is the point,” agreed Cohen, the director of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development and author of a new book, Beyond America’s Grasp: A Century of Failed Diplomacy in the Middle East. The United States is “acting as if there is a strong state” among the Arab states, he said. “But there is no leader who can make a decision who can carry the day. [Similarly], there is no strong leader in Palestine who...
05 Feb The Ethnic Cleansing-Genocide Nexus
...and the ICC’s Rome Statute. Forcible transfer, alternatively, is a war crime and can amount to a crime against humanity when committed within the context of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population. In the Rome Statute it is defined as the “forced displacement [of peoples] by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law.” When the displacement occurs within the same national territory, the crime constitutes forcible transfer. Whereas if the displacement crosses national...
19 Jan Three Key Moments in the Long History of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute
...organ of the Court, is critical for its success (for example by approving its budget), and as seen in the situation of Palestine, to afford legitimacy to the judicial process. Departing from the fact that multilateral treaties are governed by its parties, it is worth recalling the history and ideas that shaped the creation of the Assembly of States Parties. Looking back to bring forwards the issues and challenges facing the Assembly and the Court, three key moments in the history of international criminal law can help identify the forces...03 Apr “Excuse Me, the Secretary of State Needs Me”
Interesting summary of a recent speech by Colin Powell addressing Iraq, Palestine, China, Russia, Europe, globalization, and immigration. Best line: “My favorite [Powell joke] was about buying all State Department employees Blackberries (when he arrived the State Dept. still had Wang Computers so he wired every desk and bought them all Blackberries), but that one employee was using it as a ‘chick magnet’ by meeting women and then making a big deal of saying ‘Oh, the Secretary needs me.'”...27 Aug Israel’s Indiscriminate Attack on Shujaiya
...up to it.” As I said, stunning stuff. And utterly damning of the IDF — the “most moral army in the world.” It’s just a shame the US government won’t be more open with what it really thinks about the IDF’s actions. Perhaps then Israel wouldn’t feel free to use force against Palestine with impunity. NOTE: After reading the article in Al Jazeera America, make sure to read Shane Darcy’s important post at EJIL: Talk! discussing a recent decision by Israel’s Supreme Court that upholds the legality of collective punishment....
29 Apr An Advisory Opinion for Ukraine?
...including in and around East Jerusalem; […] All States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction […] In the Wall advisory opinion, the fact that there was no jurisdictional basis for the ICJ to decide a dispute between Israel and Palestine did not prevent the ICJ from setting out an unequivocal finding that Israel violated the law, accompanied by extensive clarifications on what Israel should...
27 Aug India at the UNSC: Will the Country be Able to Leave its Footprints?
...was not adopted, however, because of a veto by a permanent member. In 1977-78, then External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke to the UNSC regarding Namibia’s independence in 1978. In 1984-85, India was a leading voice at the UNSC for the resolution of conflicts in the Middle East, especially Palestine and Lebanon. In 1991-92, Indian Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao participated in the first ever summit-level meeting of the UNSC and spoke on its role in maintenance of peace and security. India again joined the UNSC after a...22 May When the Left Shoots Itself in the Foot (IHL Version)
...would still be murder under Israeli law, because Hamas does not qualify as the armed forces of Palestine and thus does not have the combatants’ privilege to kill. That was obviously too “legal” for Winstanley, because…] “Complicated” — yea right. Wasn’t so complicated for you to declare Israeli attacks on civilians “potentially legal”. [Not what I said, of course. I said Israeli attacks on military targets that incidentally kill civilians — the kind of attacks Ya’alon was discussing — were potentially legal, depending on their proportionality.] And yet you use...24 Apr Disingenuous ‘Disengagement’: Israel’s Occupation of the Gaza Strip and the Protective Function of the Law of Belligerent Occupation
[Valentina Azarov is a Lecturer in International Law and Human Rights, Al-Quds Bard College, Al-Quds University, Palestine (on leave)] This is the third post of our Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation. Earlier posts can be found in the Related Links at the end of this post. By far one of the most challenging questions for the international law of belligerent occupation pertains to the termination of occupation. The law states that “occupation comes to an end when an occupant withdraws from a territory, or is...
19 Sep Public-Private Genocide?
...report is that she does not jettison human rights or international criminal law, but instead reworks them so that they can begin to address genocide and other serious harms as the result of a public-private partnership. One of the ways she does this is by refocusing corporate accountability efforts on how corporations’ ‘specific human rights violations may also be constitutive of more structural and systemic violations of international law’. In the case of Palestine, this means that corporate due diligence is not satisfied simply by muddying the evidentiary waters over...