Jadaliyya's Occupation, Intervention, and Law Page Resonates

[Smoke rises after an Israel air strike in Gaza Strip December 28, 2008. Image by Amir Farshad Ebrahimi.] [Smoke rises after an Israel air strike in Gaza Strip December 28, 2008. Image by Amir Farshad Ebrahimi.]

Jadaliyya's Occupation, Intervention, and Law Page Resonates

By : O.I.L Editors

Since launching in July 2010, the Occupation, Intervention, and Law (O.I.L) page has made rich contributions to the field of studies examining the Middle East, armed conflict, law, and human rights. O.I.L has sought to explore the relationship between, and the debates within, the fields of armed conflict, politics, and international law. These debates include developments in international law; the implications of intervention; the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of resistance; the political economy of conflict; war profiteering; and the humanitarian dimension of war and peace, associated movements, and related forces.

In less than three years, we have published 497 articles spanning a broad range of countries, including Palestine, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, Pakistan, Iran,  and South Sudan as well as topics, including human rights, armed conflict, national security, political economy, civil liberties, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. 

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Recently, we have enhanced our page by adding useful resources. Now you can find a list of the hottest twitter handles to follow; OILy blogs; and human rights organizations throughout the Middle East. 

In addition to articles, OIL features interviews with leading activists and scholars, like Huwaida Arraf discussing the civilian convoy that sought to break the Gaza siege by sea, and Ali Ahmida discussing the uprising in Libya in early 2011, profiles of social media personalities, like Maath Musleh, a youth journalist and social media activist in the West Bank, critical discussions on conflict and gender, reports of events on the ground, photo essays, and book reviews. 

This past week, OIL published articles regarding the possibility of intervention in Syria, a book review of Eyal Weizman`s text The Least of All Possible Evils: Humanitarian Violence from Arendt to Gaza, and a series of articles, in Arabic and English exploring the Nakba.

Why There Is No Military Solution To The Syrian Conflict, Asli U. Bali and Aziz Rana
The Least of All Possible Evils: Humanitarian Vioence from Arendt to Gaza, Lisa Hajjar 
The Ongoing Nakba: The Forcible Displacement of the Palestinian People, Amjad Alqasis 

To serve as a pedagogical and informational resource, OIL has also coordinated and published three roundtable discussions: 

Occupation Law: Part of the Problem or the Solution?
Palestinian Diaspora and Representation; and 
Roundtable on Targeted Killing 

Finally, OIL has featured bi-weekly Round Ups collating the most relevant news items, commentaries, blog posts, conferences, and reports featured across the internet. To submit an entry to be included in our next Round Up, email oil@jadaliyya.com. 

We look forward to your participation in OIL’s continuing growth. To submit a piece for review, interview, profile, book review, article, or multimedia item, please send it to oil@jadaliyya.com.

CALL FOR PAPERS

We envision this to be a space to discuss the many dimensions of warfare, including armed conflict, intervention, military occupation, as well as their relationship to, and impact upon, international law, human rights, and international relations.

We are interested in pieces that explore these topics critically and are eager to feature debates within the field. Send your contributions to oil@Jadaliyya.com.

Specifically we welcome: 

1. Essays exploring the relationship between law and power. 

2. Reviews (of books, films, exhibits, blogs, pundits)

3. Interviews with practitioners, activists, scholars, government officials, etc. 

4. Photo Essays 

5. Video Clips

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Setting New Precedents: Israel Boycotts Human Rights Session

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique mechanism that intends to review the behavior of states without distinction. The UN General Assembly established it in 2006 as part of the functions of the Human Rights Council. It is a state-driven process to comprehensively assess a state`s compliance with human rights law. The Human Rights Council is to hold three two-week sessions each year during which time they review the files of sixteen member states. Accordingly each state will undergo the review every three years. As of 2011, all 193 UN member states had undergone a review.

The Human Rights Council conducted Israel`s UPR in 2009.  In response to the findings, Israel`s ambassador to the UN explained that it took the Review process "very seriously" because it is "an opportunity for genuine introspection, and frank discussion within the Israeli system" 

Israel`s second UPR is scheduled to take place in 2013. A coalition of Palestinian human rights organizations submitted their concise report on Israel`s violations between 2009 and 2012.  This document will not be read, however, because Israel is boycotting the UPR, citing bias.  In May 2012, Israel described the Human Rights Council as “a political tool and convenient platform, cynically used to advance certain political aims, to bash and demonize Israel.”

Israel`s condemnation of the Human Rights Council followed the body`s initiation of a fact-finding mission to investigate the impact of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Today, the Council released its report at a press conference in Geneva. It states that Isreal must cease all of its settlement activity  "without preconditions" and  "must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers", or face prosecution before the International Criminal Court. Sources in Geneva tell me that Israel`s threats of boycott aimed to derail the Council`s fact-finding mission`s report. Failing to do that, Israel unilaterally withdrew from its Universal Periodic Review all together.

This is not Israel`s first attack on the UN. It has cited bias in the past in response to the UN`s critique of its human rights violations, specifically after the World Conference Against Racism (2001); the International Court of Justice proceedings on the route of the Separation Barrier (2004); denial of entry to Special Rapporteur to the OPT, Richard Falk (2008); and its refusal to cooperate with the Human Rights Council`s fact-finding delegation to Gaza in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead (2009). 

Israel is unique for its boycott, which evidences the tenuous nature of the voluntary compliance process. In fact, human rights advocates and governement officials worry that Israel will open the door to non-cooperation by other states. The battle for accountability continues even in the UN. Despite its acceptance of international law & human rights norms, even within the multilateral human rights body, the last word on human rights matters is political.