Law Commons^™

Palestinian Nationality And “Jewish” Nationality: From The Lausanne Treaty To Today, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter assesses the legal foundations of Zionist and Palestinian national claims over the land of Palestine since the British Mandate. It explores the legal basis and implications of the claim of Jewish nationality in Palestine and compares it with the claim of Palestinian nationality. The question of national rights, and who can claim them, is central to rethinking the statehood and residency rights of those living today in the area of historic Palestine. The law of nationality is at the core of the protections of peoples’ right to self-determination, and understanding the principles underlying nationality law is essential to …

Unrwa And Palestine Refugees, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter studies the relationship between Palestinian refugees and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA’s role is to provide humanitarian ‘relief’ and to provide economic opportunities—‘works’—for refugees in the areas of major displacement: the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Initially, the definition of Palestine refugee for UNRWA’s purposes was a sub-category of the United Nations Conciliation Commission on Palestine definition for purposes of relief provision, but it also included other categories of persons displaced from later conflicts. Following the passage of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the …

Amicus Curaie, Submitted Susan Akram, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

B Summary of Argument

7. Palestinian refugees fall under a legal regime that is distinct from all other refugees in the world.¹² As such, they are covered by a series of special provisions that apply only to them and no other refugees. Their special status resulted from the decisions of the drafters of key international treaties to exclude Palestinian refugees from the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, and to conditionally exclude them from the benefits of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees. …

The Case For Palestine: An International Law Perspective, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

A Book Review for: The Case for Palestine: An International Law Perspective by John Quigley

Taken from review:

John Quigley aptly calls it “the longest-standing conflict in the history of the United Nations”—the apparently intractable Middle East conflict that continues to foster violence and instability, not only in the region, but around the world. But Quigley’s revised and updated The Case for Palestine: An International Law Perspective, in clear language and persuasive legal argument, draws the conclusion that it is not unsolvable. Far from an intractable problem, Quigley argues, solving the Israel-Palestine conflict in a way that leads to a …

The Wall And The Law: A Tale Of Two Judgements, Susan M. Akram, S. Michael Lynk

Faculty Scholarship

The seminal rulings in 2004 by the International Court of Justice and the Israeli High Court on the legality of the wall/barrier that Israel is building through the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem provide a study in contrast. While both judgements were critical of the wall/barrier, their judicial approaches and legal conclusions were strikingly divergent, particularly given that the two courts were purporting to rely upon the same principles of international law. The judgements also elicited quite different political and diplomatic reactions, especially among the parties most involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict. This article explores the legal analysis and …