What got us to Gaza?
On 7 October 2023, Hamas militants breached the Israeli border fence surrounding Gaza, attacking Israeli border communities. Brutal massacres and fighting then left 1,200 Israelis killed and over 200 Israelis were taken hostage. Israel struck back with massive force. Within the first month of the war, Israel had killed over 11,000 Palestinians. This is the most extreme scale of violence between Israel and the Palestinians since 1948. The war did not occur in a vacuum. Internally Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007, and externally the strip has been under an Israeli blockade. This predicament has led many to compare Gaza to an open-air prison. It is the most extreme version of the 56 year long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. The population of Gaza is also a stark reminder of how the core of the Palestinian historic experience is one of exile, as 2/3 of the population are refugees.
Legal overview: How can international law help to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on for several decades. International efforts have been made to resolve it, albeit in the last decade the peace process has been defunct. Moreover, several adverse developments have occurred with more illegal settlements and lack of a vision for the exercise of the Palestinian peoples of their right to self-determination. Importantly, in the last two decades, international has come to play an increased role in the conflict, as the State of Palestine has tried to use international law to further its cause and put pressure on Israel. The UN General Assembly has twice asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory opinion. The ICJ rendered its opinion on the wall in 2004, and there is a pending advisory opinion on the issue of occupation. Palestine has become a State party to many international human rights and humanitarian law treaties and the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC or Court). The Palestine situation was referred to Court first in 2009 and has been pending before it since 2015. This short talk will try to put these various developments in perspective, trying to answer the question as to what role can international law play in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The two speakers are Jørgen Jensehaugen and Gentian Zyberi. They will present for approximately 15 minutes each and then take questions. This is an in-person event that will not be recorded.
Jørgen Jensehaugen is a Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He is a historian with a PhD from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). In 2018 he published the book Arab-Israeli Diplomacy Under Carter: The US, Israel and the Palestinians (I.B. Tauris). He has published extensively on international diplomacy dealing with the Palestinian issue. His current research focuses on UNRWA's funding crisis; international aid to Palestine; and diplomacy towards Israel/Palestine. He is an active participant in the Norwegian media debates about Middle East policy.
Gentian Zyberi is a Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. Professor Zyberi has been a member of the UN Human Rights Committee (2019-2022) and a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague, the Netherlands (2016-2028). Over the last two decades, he has done research, published and taught in the areas of international human rights, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and public international law at various universities in the Netherlands, Albania, China, the US, Northern Macedonia, and Norway.
Everyone is welcome, but please sign up through here (nettskjema).