Palestine

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A Missed Opportunity: The Decision in Palestine v Israel

September 5, 2024

On 22 August 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/the Committee) published the report of the ad hoc Conciliation Commission (the Commission) in Palestine v Israel. This marks the final stage of the inter-State communications procedure initiated by Palestine in April 2018 under Article 11 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), and the first inter-State case to be completed before a UN human rights treaty body. The decision, however, must be considered a missed opportunity to engage in detail with Palestine’s arguments, particularly on Article 3 and apartheid. This post will consider the shortcomings in the decision and reflect on where CERD might go from here in relation to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). First, just to note the distinction between CERD and the Commission as set out in ICERD’s inter-State communications mechanism. Under Article 11, CERD decides on preliminary questions of jurisdiction and admissibility. If the case progresses, an ad hoc Conciliation Commission comprising five persons is…

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A Hypothetical Scenario on Illegal Occupation

August 28, 2024

Readers will recall that there is some degree of ambiguity in the ICJ’s recent holding in its Palestine advisory opinion as to how Israel’s systematic violations of IHL and other rules of international law, including the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, rendered Israel’s continued presence in the occupied territories unlawful. That is, the difficult question…

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Reflections on the Identification of Jus Cogens by the ICJ in the Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territories: Taking into Account the ILC Draft Conclusions on Jus Cogens

August 27, 2024

In the groundbreaking advisory opinion recently delivered by the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (see here), there are many issues that merit discussion (see e.g. here). This post will mainly focus on the jus cogens identified by…

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Obligations Erga Omnes, Norms of Jus Cogens and Legal Consequences for “Other States” in the ICJ Palestine Advisory Opinion

August 26, 2024

 As correctly pointed out in this blog, the Advisory Opinion (AO) of 19 July 2024 issued by the International Court of Justice (the Court) on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem has important implications for third states. In its Resolution of 30…

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Whose reasonable inference? The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and the threshold for apartheid’s mens rea

August 22, 2024

In the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (“The OPT case”, July 2024), the court found, inter alia, that: … Israel’s legislation and measures impose and serve to maintain a near-complete separation in the…

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