This book critically analyzes the Palestinian legal arguments against Israeli occupation and in favor of Palestinian statehood.
For the past two decades, Palestinians have chosen to pursue their claims against the Israeli occupation through litigation at the international courts. It is therefore appropriate, the author contends, to analyze the merits of the Palestinian legal claims separately from their political claims. To do so, the book comprises five parts:
- Part I addresses the role of international law in the conflict, as well as Palestinian legal framing and lawfare.
- Part II recounts the relevant legal history, including the crucial legal implications of the Oslo Accords.
- Part III analyzes Palestinian legal claims regarding the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
- Part IV assesses the Palestinian legal case for statehood.
- Part V analyzes Palestinian legal claims regarding Jerusalem.
Ultimately, it is argued that the Palestinian legal case is weak and that the two-state solution continues to represent the most viable long-term political outcome to the conflict. Moreover, the author suggests that Palestinian leaders have repeatedly opted for conflict perpetuation through lawfare and violence, rather than conflict resolution through negotiation.
Providing fresh insights into the claims and counterclaims of Palestinian legitimacy, the book will appeal broadly to anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and international law.
This book critically analyzes the Palestinian legal arguments against Israeli occupation and in favor of Palestinian statehood.
Introduction Part I: International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict
1. International Law: Aspiration vs. Reality
2. Palestinian Legal
Framing and Narrative
3. Palestinian Lawfare Part II: Relevant Legal History
4. The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, 19151916
5. The Palestine Mandate,
1922
6. Palestinians Deny the Existence of Palestine, 1920s1930s
7.
Palestinians Reject the Two-State Solution, 1937
8. Palestinians Reject the
One-State Solution, 1939
9. Palestinians Again Reject the Two-State Solution,
1947
10. The All-Palestine Government, 1948
11. The Forgotten Occupation of
the West Bank Jordan, 19481967
12. The Forgotten Occupation of the Gaza
Strip Egypt, 19481967
13. The Original PLO Charter, May 1964
14. The Oslo
Accords, 19931995 Part III: Assessing the Palestinian Legal Case: The West
Bank and the Gaza Strip
15. Is Israels Occupation of the West Bank Illegal?
16. Are Israeli Settlements in the West Bank Illegal?
17. Is the Gaza Strip
Occupied? Part IV: Assessing the Palestinian Legal Case: Statehood
18. Are
the Palestinians Legally Entitled to Statehood?
19. Is Palestine Already a
State? Part V: Assessing the Palestinian Legal Case: Jerusalem
20. Who Owns
Jerusalem? Conclusion
Steven E. Zipperstein is Associate Director and Distinguished Senior Scholar at the UCLA Center for Middle East Development and an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Zipperstein is also a Visiting Professor at Tel Aviv University Law School and a Visiting Lecturer at the Hertie School in Berlin. Zipperstein is the author of Zionism, Palestinian Nationalism and the Law: 19391948 (Routledge, 2022) and Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Trials of Palestine (Routledge, 2020).
