Palestine
200 Articles
Palestine and the ICC — Some Legal Questions
There has already been a great deal of political commentary about the Palestinian decision to join the International Criminal Court. What about the legal issues? Statehood The…
Breaking News: ICC Prosecutors Decline to Investigate “Freedom Flotilla” Incident
It is being reported (by Reuters, the Jerusalem Post, and others) that the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor has closed its preliminary examination into…
UN Human Rights Committee Offers Concluding Observations on Israel
As Ruchi Parekh highlighted earlier this month on Just Security, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has been considering both the fourth periodic report of Israel and the…
New Development in Palestinian bid to Join International Criminal Court
Reports this week indicate that the Hamas leadership has signed a pledge to support any move by the Palestinian Authority to become a state party to the International Criminal…
The ICRC’s Position on Human Shields (and Gaza)—A Reply to Professor Adil Haque
I agree with Professor Adil Haque’s description of the ICRC’s bifurcated position on voluntary human shields. I have accordingly added a note in my original post which now…
Letter to the Editor: Human Shields in the DPH Guidance
[Editor’s Note: Ryan Goodman responds to Professor Haque’s letter to the editor in a subsequent post.] In his recent post, Ryan Goodman writes that the ICRC adopts the view…
Resource: The Israeli Government’s Legal Position on Who is a “Combatant” in the Gaza Conflict [Updated]
There has been a lot of loose talk in the media and by some commentators about the government of Israel’s official position on the definition of who is a lawful target in Gaza.…
Who does the New York Times think is a combatant in Gaza?
There is a strange quality to today’s story by the New York Times on the civilian casualty rate in Gaza (“Civilian or Not? New Fight in Tallying the Dead from the Gaza Conflict”).…
Guest Post: Has Hamas Overplayed Its Lawfare Strategy?
In the current Gaza conflict, the adversaries are employing very different strategies to achieve their operational objectives. Israel is executing a robust military strategy. By…
A Primer on the Laws of War that Apply to the Gaza Conflict
We were about to produce a primer on the law of war framework that governs the ongoing hostilities in Gaza. However, Human Rights Watch has just posted what we think is an excellent…
Letter to the Editor: Elliott Abrams Responds to Sarah Knuckey’s Post on UN Casualty Estimates in Gaza
Prof. Knuckey makes some good points about casualty estimates. Knuckey and I would agree that data is hard to come by in the middle of a war and often even after it is over. For…
The Wrong Reasons to Doubt UN Civilian Casualty Estimates in Gaza
The United Nations’ preliminary estimate that 77 per cent of the 214 individuals killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza are civilians is “almost certainly false,” according to…