UK- 1/16/2021: “Law for Palestine” organized, within the monthly webinars of the Jurists for Palestine Forum, a discussion entitled “The Effectiveness of International Law in the Palestinian Struggle to end the Occupation”. The webinar discussed the role of international law in the Palestinian cause, its effectiveness, and the possibility of turning it into a fair legal tool when dealing with the Palestinian cause.
The discussion was held on Saturday evening, January 16th, 2021, via Zoom, and hosted both Dr. Abdelhamid Siyam, a professor of political science at Rogers University and a former spokesperson for several United Nations missions. It also hosted Dr. Isam Abdeen, a professor of international law at both Arab American University and Birzeit University, and the advocacy officer at Al-Haq Foundation.
The meeting was opened by Mrs. Rawan Al-Husseini, a member of the Board of Trustees of Law for Palestine, who emphasized the importance of the topic of the meeting, as there are big questions about whether international law is a tool in the hands of the powerful or a tool to achieve justice. Al-Husseini referred to the role international law played in South Africa to end the apartheid, and whether this role can be activated when it comes to Palestine, where international law is still weak and perhaps dependent on political desires. This prompted the question whether international law suffers from weakness when it comes to Palestine, and to what extent has it been effective so far. How can it be transformed into a just legal tool when dealing with the Palestinian cause?
Over the course of an hour and forty minutes, the meeting, in which 21 researchers and legal experts participated, along with Dr. Siyam and Dr. Abdeen, and was watched by about 200 members of the Jurists for Palestine Forum around the world, discussed the effectiveness of international law in serving the Palestinian cause, and what steps are needed to be made in order to make it more effective.
The law cannot implement itself by itself; rather it needs power to implement it
Dr. Siyam stressed that international law will not be enforceable on its own. Rather, states must make efforts to make it enforceable, as this requires a recognition among states on the validity of its decisions on them. Dr. Siyam addressed the United Nations mechanisms and stated that the Charter of the United Nations is an essential part of international law, as Article 25 states that every state that becomes a member of the United Nations is obligated to implement the resolutions of the Security Council.
He added that Israel may be the only country that continuously violates international law since its inception. He mentioned some of its violations, including: seizing land by force, settlements, expelling the Palestinians and controlling their natural resources.
As for Dr. Abdeen, he referred to the challenges related to the international system, represented by the control of the victor and the theory of power, and from here he concluded that the right of veto is one of the tools that contributed to weakening international law, as the veto contributed to aborting dozens of decisions related to the Palestinian cause because of America’s usage of it.
He said that in order for Palestine to overcome its weakness in benefiting from international law, the Palestinian internal home must be restored, and the Palestinian election renewed by involving youth and women in it, and a clear plan based on rights and international law should be adopted and used to achieve an orderly diplomatic performance.
The attendees discussed with Dr. Siyam and Dr. Abdeen How to benefit from UN General Assembly resolutions, especially in light of the existence of public sympathy for the Palestinian cause, and what is required to make decisions related to the Palestinian issue effective, such as Security Council decisions and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and what is the role of Palestinians in the interior 48 lands – especially human rights defenders – in front of the Israeli courts.
It is noteworthy that this webinar comes within the activities of the Jurists for Palestine Forum, affiliated to the Law for Palestine Organization, which is based on holding online monthly webinar among international experts and researchers, students, jurists and people interested in Palestine from different countries of the world to discuss topics and developments related to international law and Palestine, in addition to effectively networking between jurists interested in Palestine from all over the world.
* To attend the next monthly meetings within the Jurists for Palestine Forum, you can register for the forum via the following link “here“
