The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: A Study in International Legal Subalternity

As one of the longest running disputes on the United Nations agenda, the conventional wisdom holds that the UN’s position on the question of Palestine offers the only normative basis of a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians grounded in international law. Contrary to this position, this dissertation argues that there has been a continuing though vacillating gulf between the requirements of international law and the position of the UN, which has inevitably frustrated rather than facilitated the search for a just and lasting peace. To this end, the research examines a number of areas in which the UN has assumed a leading role in the question of Palestine since 1947. It critically explores the tensions that exist between the positions adopted by the Organization on the one hand, and various requirements of prevailing international law on the other. If the UN has failed to respect the normative framework of international law in its management of the question of Palestine, what forms has this taken? How long has it persisted? What are the implications, not only on the Palestinian people – whose contemporary leadership has long had faith in the UN as the forum within which their international legal entitlements must be pressed – but also on the Organization itself? By addressing these questions, the research critically interrogates the received wisdom regarding the UN’s fealty to the international rule of law, in favour of what more accurately might be described as an international rule by law. It demonstrates that through the actions of the Organization, Palestine and its people have been committed to a state of what the author calls International Legal Subalternity, according to which the promise of justice through international law has been repeatedly proffered under a cloak of political legitimacy furnished by the international community, but its realization interminably withheld.Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canad

Zionism, Racism, and the Palestinian People: Fifty Years of Human Rights Violations in Israel and the Occupied Territories

The magnitude of Israeli human rights violations against the Palestinian people has been well documented by independent scholars, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. However, relatively little has been written regarding the role the official Israeli state ideology has played in encouraging and upholding the Jewish state\u27s policies regarding the indigenous Palestinians. Set against the backdrop of the fiftieth anniversaries of both the establishment of the State of Israel, and the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the author partially surveys Israel\u27s prolonged violation of Palestinian human rights and argues that the Jewish state is a racist state owing to its unwavering commitment to Zionism. Drawing on a variety of authoritative and independent sources, the author offers a thorough analysis of the history and central tenets of Zionism. This is followed by a detailed examination of a selection of Israeli laws and policies that have violated the human rights of the Palestinian people since the conquest of Palestine in 1948. Concerned with the moral and political implications of Israel\u27s continued persecution of the Palestinian people, the author concludes that as long as the international community continues to tolerate the existence of Israel as a state based on doctrines of exclusivism and racism, a just settlement to the conflict in the Middle East will never be realized. *** L\u27ampleur de la violation des droits de la personne contre les Palestiniens a été bien documentée par des spécialistes indépendants et des organisations intergouvernementales et non-gouvernementales comme l\u27Organisation des Nations-Unies, Amnistie Internationale et Human Rights Watch. Cependant, peu a été écrit sur le rôle de l\u27idéologie officielle de l\u27État israélien vis-à-vis les Palestiniens. Voyant venir le quinzième anniversaire de la Constitution de l\u27État d\u27Israël et la proclamation de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l\u27homme, l’auteur regarde partiellement le prolongement de la violation des droits de la personne des Palestiniens par Israël et argumente que l\u27État juif est un état raciste dû à ses obligations impératives au sionisme, l\u27idéologie coloniale du dix-neuvième siècle, concernant la notion que la Palestine est un droit donné au monde juif. Donnant une variété de sources crédibles et indépendantes, l\u27auteur offre une analyse de l\u27histoire et les principes importants du sionisme. Cela est suivi par un examen détaillé d\u27une sélection des droits et politiques d\u27Israël qui ont violé les droits de la personne des Palestiniens depuis la conquête de Palestine en 1948. Avec les implications morales et politiques d\u27Israël, qui constituent la persécution des Palestiniens, l\u27auteur conclue qu\u27aussi longtemps que la communauté internationale continuera à tolérer l\u27existence d\u27Israël comme étant basée sur la doctrine de l\u27exclusivité et de racisme, une entente afin d\u27arrêter les conflits dans le Moyen-Orient ne sera jamais réalisée

The Status of Palestinian Refugees in International Law

Book review of The Status of Palestinian Refugees in International Law by Lex Takkenberg and published by Clarendon Press (Oxford), 1998. (411 pp.

Zionism, Racism, and the Palestinian People: Fifty Years of Human Rights Violations in Israel and the Occupied Territories

The magnitude of Israeli human rights violations against the Palestinian people has been well documented by independent scholars, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. However, relatively little has been written regarding the role the official Israeli state ideology has played in encouraging and upholding the Jewish state\u27s policies regarding the indigenous Palestinians. Set against the backdrop of the fiftieth anniversaries of both the establishment of the State of Israel, and the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the author partially surveys Israel\u27s prolonged violation of Palestinian human rights and argues that the Jewish state is a racist state owing to its unwavering commitment to Zionism. Drawing on a variety of authoritative and independent sources, the author offers a thorough analysis of the history and central tenets of Zionism. This is followed by a detailed examination of a selection of Israeli laws and policies that have violated the human rights of the Palestinian people since the conquest of Palestine in 1948. Concerned with the moral and political implications of Israel\u27s continued persecution of the Palestinian people, the author concludes that as long as the international community continues to tolerate the existence of Israel as a state based on doctrines of exclusivism and racism, a just settlement to the conflict in the Middle East will never be realized. *** L\u27ampleur de la violation des droits de la personne contre les Palestiniens a été bien documentée par des spécialistes indépendants et des organisations intergouvernementales et non-gouvernementales comme l\u27Organisation des Nations-Unies, Amnistie Internationale et Human Rights Watch. Cependant, peu a été écrit sur le rôle de l\u27idéologie officielle de l\u27État israélien vis-à-vis les Palestiniens. Voyant venir le quinzième anniversaire de la Constitution de l\u27État d\u27Israël et la proclamation de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l\u27homme, l’auteur regarde partiellement le prolongement de la violation des droits de la personne des Palestiniens par Israël et argumente que l\u27État juif est un état raciste dû à ses obligations impératives au sionisme, l\u27idéologie coloniale du dix-neuvième siècle, concernant la notion que la Palestine est un droit donné au monde juif. Donnant une variété de sources crédibles et indépendantes, l\u27auteur offre une analyse de l\u27histoire et les principes importants du sionisme. Cela est suivi par un examen détaillé d\u27une sélection des droits et politiques d\u27Israël qui ont violé les droits de la personne des Palestiniens depuis la conquête de Palestine en 1948. Avec les implications morales et politiques d\u27Israël, qui constituent la persécution des Palestiniens, l\u27auteur conclue qu\u27aussi longtemps que la communauté internationale continuera à tolérer l\u27existence d\u27Israël comme étant basée sur la doctrine de l\u27exclusivité et de racisme, une entente afin d\u27arrêter les conflits dans le Moyen-Orient ne sera jamais réalisée