Monday. June 26, 2023
11:00-12:00 Geneva Time || 12:00 – 13:00 Jerusalem Time
Overview:
Israel has been systematically detaining Palestinian university students in the West Bank and in Israel as a tool to erode Palestinian political and cultural identity in order to consolidate Israeli settler-colonialism.
Evidence shows that the systematic detention policy against Palestinian university students in the West Bank and in Israel is aimed at paralyzing Palestinian collective action by targeting political activism and the development of future political leadership. Plea Bargains are also used as a means to coerce Palestinians to admit charges and to classify them as security prisoners to deny them educational development. The Israeli practices aim to abolish any Palestinian political or national movement any movement that advocates for the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and an end to the occupation by detaining the leaders of these movements in the universities.
This event, gathering UN officials, lawyers, experts and NGOs directly involved and having a first-hand experience with the issue at hand, aims to address the following questions:
- To what extent does Israel’s detention of University students represent a systematic policy?
- On what instruments does Israel rely on to carry and justify the detentions and charges against Palestinian students in the West Bank and in Israel?
- How does Israel’s systematic detention of Palestinian students be used as a tool for settler colonialism and how it relates to the erosion of the Palestinian identity and the consolidation of its settler colonial regime?
Law for Palestine, In collaboration with Shams are organizing this HRC side- event on: Israel’s Arrest Policy Against Palestinian University Students and its Weaponization to Erode Palestinian Identity and Consolidate Colonialism.
Confirmed Speakers:
- Ihsan Adel, Chair, Law for Palestine and the author of L4P report on Israel’s Arrest Policy Against Palestinian University Students
- Adi Mansour, Lawyer – Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
- Elina Steinerte, former chair Rapporteur on Arbitrary Detention and member of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture.
- Riccardo Bocco, Emeritus Professor at Geneva Graduate Institute.
Moderator:
- Ghada Alrayan: HRC Coordinator, Law for Palestine
