Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Abstract

Apartheid is a loaded term; saturated with history and emotion. It conjures up images and memories of discrimination, oppression, and brutality; indulgence, privilege, and pretension; racism, resistance, and, ultimately, emancipation. All of which come to us through the history of apartheid in South Africa. Although prohibited and criminalized by international law in response to the situation in southern Africa, the concept of apartheid was never given enormous attention by international lawyers. Following an awakening of interest in the international legal prohibition of apartheid as a potentially appropriate lens through which to view the situation of the Palestinians, this article examines the merits of such a claim in the context of Israeli law and practice in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Evidence for Hope? Assessing the Role of the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs on the Course of the Palestinian Question

“…26 In an article published in the prestigious European Journal of International Law, Dugard concludes that "there are indeed strong grounds to conclude that a system of apartheid has developed [over Palestinian territories]" (Dugard & Reynolds 2013: 912). According to Dugard & Reynolds (2013), the existence of a such regime, amounting to an internationally wrongful act, has clear implications under public international law. Dugard argued that "international law may retain a role through the light that it shines on the normative issues to be resolved in this context" (Dugard & Reynolds 2013: 912).…”

Taking Academic Freedom Seriously: Exploring the Legal and Moral Underpinnings of BDS

“…19 (p. 21). 20 See Dugard and Reynolds (2013). 21 See also Meloni and Tognoni (2012); Al-Haq (2012), a report endorsed by several prominent legal scholars; Kattan (2009) occurring in the context of an international armed conflict and evidenced by a factual situation of 'effective control' over a territory.…”

Repressive inclusion

“…This framing suggestsperhaps in subtle contrast to usages of "inclusive exclusion" 1a process whereby Palestinians are included within the Israeli juridical order but in a manner in which they are legally differentiated and discriminated against. They are denied the privileges afforded to Jewish nationals, while Israel's policies of segregation and apartheid are given institutional and legal grounding (Dugard and Reynolds 2013). The "provision" of law by Israel's civil authorities, and the extensive use of legal discourse and institutionseven if in decisionistic formby the military authorities, speak to a form of inclusion.…”