PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE –Issue.165

Your weekly survey of the most important publications and activities related to Palestine and law, from local and international sources

 26 Feb – 5 March 2023

Issued every Sunday by Law for Palestine

Prepared by: Razwan Issa, Nour Kharouf, Nermin Allawh, Sophia Alisaa

Translation: Mays Abu Atwan and Ferdous Abdul Hamid
Editing: Nardeen Khalid

This weekly report reviews the legal dynamics of the Palestine question, and everything related to international law and Palestine. The report includes an account of the most important publications, activities and conferences related to Palestine at the local, regional, international levels. The report further covers decisions, decrees, and judicial orders affecting the Palestinian cause, whether made at the official, academic or public levels. The report aims to be a reference for monitoring, documenting and archiving the latest human rights developments related to Palestine, and to present them to individuals, researchers, study centers, and official, academic and legal institutions concerned.

To view this Volume of Palestine’s Legal Scene, please click here (3 minutes read)

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Palestinian bodies

• The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the ongoing violations carried out by settlers against the Palestinian citizens and confirmed that unilateral procedures undermine the two-state solution. (February 26, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Foreign Ministry: Settlers’ crimes committed in Hawara is a reflection of the building of a huge settlement block in the south of Nablus. (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian MOFAE condemned the “provocative” raid carried out by the racist Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, into JabalSabih in Beita, south of Nablus, accompanied by armed settlers, in an attempt to legitimize the outpost “Abitar”.(February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Head of the PLO Refugee Service, Ahmed Abu Holi, has urged donor and UNRWA-funded nations to react quickly to the anticipated $436.7 million emergency appeal for Lebanon and Syria, in order for UNRWA to continue providing services to Palestinian refugees. (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• During his speech to the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, the Palestinian Foreign Minister called on the Council to provide international protection to the Palestinian people. The Minister reaffirmed that the international community’s chronic failure to hold Israel accountable was the main reason for its persistence in crimes. (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian MOFAE condemned the “Israeli Court” for releasing settlers, who were arrested on suspicion of attacks in the town of Hawara in Nablus, under the pretext of no evidence. This further proves that the Israeli judiciary is part of the occupation system. (March 2, 2023). For further details, click here

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Israeli bodies

• The Israeli cabinet announced the signing of an agreement which assigns governmental powers in the West Bank between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the minister in his ministry, Bezalel Smotrich. Smotrich will in effect become the governor of the West Bank, holding powers that will allow him to control nearly almost all areas of life there, including planning, building, and infrastructure, which he intends to use to expand the settlement enterprise and stop all Palestinian development. (February 26, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved a bill that institutes the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners. According to the bill, someone who “intentionally or out of indifference causes the death of an Israeli citizen when the act is carried out from a racist motive or hate to a certain public… and with the purpose of harming the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in its homeland,” faces a death sentence. (February 26, 2023). For further details, click here
• Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that Israel should “wipe out” the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank. (March 1, 2023). For further details, click here
• Israeli lawmakers have voted in favor of a bill that would impose the death penalty on so-called “terrorists” accused of killing Israelis and it passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament (Knesset).(March 1, 2023). For further details, click here

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by Arab, European, and international bodies

• At the Jordanian Aqaba Summit, the Israeli and Palestinian sides reaffirmed their commitment to all prior agreements reached between them. They also discussed their determination to work toward a just and lasting peace, the de-escalation of the situation on the ground, the prevention of new acts of violence, and the preservation of the holy sites’ historic context – status quo. (February 25, 2023). For further details, click here
• Conservative MP Stephen Crabb criticized Labour MP Julie Elliott for comparing the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. He claimed that her statement is “historically wrong, factually wrong, and morally wrong”. (February 25, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Arab Parliamentary Union reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian cause and urged the international community to put immense pressure on the Israeli occupying Power to stop the mass killings of Palestinians and plans for settlement expansion. (February 25/26, 2023). For further details, click here
• Barcelona City Council overruled the mayor’s intention to cut relations with Israel. (February 26, 2023). For further details, click here
• S. and U.K. condemn settlers’ West Bank rampage in the West Bank town of Hawara near Nablus. (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the Israeli aggression escalation against the city of Nablus. The statement called on the Security Council to provide international protection to the Palestinian people. (February 27, 2023).For further details, click here
• German Foreign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock expressed “concern” over the Israel’s plans to overhaul the judiciary and to introduce the death penalty for terrorists during a press conference in Berlin with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen. (February 28, 2023). For further details, click here
• The European Union contributes EUR 82 million to UNRWA in 2023 and reaffirms its commitment to support Palestine refugees. (February 28, 2023). For further details, click here
• The European Union says “it is highly concerned by the continuously spiraling violence in the occupied Palestinian territory. It condemns the terror attack in the West Bank on Sunday, in which two Israelis lost their lives, and yet another attack on Monday claiming the life of one more Israeli. The EU also condemns the outbreak of settlers’ violence, which resulted in the killing of one Palestinian, the injuring of several hundreds of Palestinians, and burning of houses and shops, causing the unacceptable destruction of Palestinian property.” (February 28, 2023). For further details, click here
• European diplomats stating that they expected the Israeli Prime Minister to have more influence over far-right-wing. (March 1, 2023). For further details, click here
• In defense of the head of the UN Human Rights Office in NYC, Craig Mokheiber, who is accused of spreading “hate speech” against Israel, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has stated that Israel’s brutal occupation has grown out of control. It can no longer be whitewashed by smearing human rights voices (March 1, 2023). For further details, click here
• A spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Edward Price, said, “Just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn Finance Minister Smotrich’s provocative remarks that also amount to incitement of violence” (March 2, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Jordanian, Emirati, and Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the incendiary statements made by the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, calling for the destruction of the town of Hawara, south of Nablus. (March 2, 2023)
• The Supreme Court in the US capital, Washington, rejected a legal claim against the American Studies Academics (ASA) and some of its former leaders on the basis of a resolution they adopted in 2013 that backed an academic boycott of Israel. (March 2, 2023). For further details, clickhere
• The Egyptian Foreign Minister says that the absence of political will on the Israeli side prevents solving the Palestinian cause, and stresses the importance of establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders. (March 3, 2023). For further details, click here
• Representatives of European Union countries during their visit to the town of Hawara, south of Nablus: “We condemn in the strongest terms the heinous and the violent acts committed by settlers, and call on Israel to protect Palestinians from settler violence and ensure that the perpetrators are held to account.” They added, “settler violence is a result of Israel’s continued settlement activity, settlements are illegal under international law”. (March 3, 2023). For further details, click here
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has declared the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory to be dire and a “tragedy”, with the ongoing violations of the rights of Palestinians and rising violence from all parties due to the continued occupation for over half a century. (March 3, 2023). For further details, click here
• Germany, France, UK, Italy, Poland and Spain called on Israel to halt expansion of settlements and said in a joint statement “We urge the Israeli government to reverse its recent decision to advance the construction of more than 7,000 settlement building units across the occupied West Bank and to legalize settlement outposts”. They further called for accountability and for perpetrators to be brought to justice after a rampage by Israeli settlers in which a Palestinian was killed and dozens of houses, shops and cars were torched. (March 4, 2023). For further details, click here

Publications of human rights NGOs

• Twenty-two Israeli international law experts asked Israel’s attorney general to investigate Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and two pro-settlement Knesset members for “inducing war crimes.” (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The New York Times published a visual investigation showing an Israeli raid on Nablus ended with the killing of 11 Palestinians and rippled into the use of lethal force by Israeli soldiers against unarmed Palestinians.(March 1, 2023).For further details, click here
• An art exhibit for Palestinian children from Gaza was taken down by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London after a pro-Israel group complained that it made Jewish patients feel “weak and abused.”(February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• In response to the hospital’s removal of artwork created by Gazan children, the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) wrote to Leslie Watts, chief executive of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, requesting that the institution “immediately restore the artwork and apologize for taking it down.”. (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The European Citizens’ Initiative gathered 20324 Belgian signatures gathered by the European Citizens’ Initiative calling for a ban on commerce with unlawful settlements in the occupied territories which were delivered by a delegation of Belgian Organizations and people to Minister of the Economy of Belgium Pierre-Yves Dermagne.(February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• J Street has expressed its alarm at the escalation of violence in Israel and the West Bank in light of the latest major moves of the far-right Israeli government toward annexation, which feeds the cycle of conflict and injustice against the Palestinians. (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian National Committee for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Israel (BDS) condemned “the official normalization of officials in the Palestinian Authority, the most dangerous of which was the recent meeting that brought together the official in the PLO, Hussein Al-Sheikh, with a delegation from the Zionist-US lobby most hostile to Palestinian people, AIPAC.” (February 27, 2023). For further details, click here
• Al-Haq has called for international accountability, alarming that the rising wave of settler attacks and collective punishment of Palestinians is a direct result of the international community’s failure to take effective and meaningful action to end the Israeli occupation and colonial apartheid regime. (March 1, 2023). For further details, click here
• Two American Jewish groups have called on the US government to revoke Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s entry visa to the US and prevent him from visiting the country later this month due to his recent call to “wipe up” the Palestinian town of Hawara. (March 3, 2023). For further details, click here

Opinion Pieces and features

• Giulia Pinzauti, Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden Law School’s Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, published an article entitled “Should the ICJ Answer the General Assembly’s Request for an Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Israel’s Occupation?” For further details, click here

Research and academic studies (in Arabic and English)

• Authors Richard Falk, John Dugard, and Michael Lynk published a book titled: “Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine: Working Through the United Nations.”. Click here to read more.
• Researcher Alexandra L. Wilson published a study titled: “Enforcing Consistency: A Comparative Analysis of Geneva Convention IV Violations in Morocco-Western Sahara and Israel-Palestine.”. Click here to read more.
• The University of Oxford/Refugee Studies Centre has published a research paper titled “The UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees: Protecting Refugee Rights While Structurally Addressing the Agency’s Financial Unstainable Modus Operandi” by researchers Lex Takkenberg and Francesca Albanese. Click here to read more

Upcoming human rights opportunities and events

• Foundation for Middle East Peace and Al-Shabaka announce their intention to hold a webinar entitled: “Allyship& the Fight for Palestinian Liberation.” For further  details, click here