Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza [Paperback]

Lisa Hajjar (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520241940 | ISBN-13: 978-0520241947 | Publication Date: January 31, 2005 | Edition: 1

Israel's military court system, a centerpiece of Israel's apparatus of control in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967, has prosecuted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. This authoritative book provides a rare look at an institution that lies both figuratively and literally at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lisa Hajjar has conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of Israelis and Palestinians--including judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, defendants, and translators--about their experiences and practices to explain how this system functions, and how its functioning has affected the conflict. Her lucid, richly detailed, and theoretically sophisticated study highlights the array of problems and debates that characterize Israel's military courts as it asks how the law is deployed to protect and further the interests of the Israeli state and how it has been used to articulate and defend the rights of Palestinians living under occupation.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Hajjar's book on the Israeli military court system brings together rich ethnographic and historical knowledge with cutting-edge theoretical sophistication."--Austin Sarat, coeditor of Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies, and the Law

"This book will be the most authoritative source on the subject for years to come."--James Ron, author of Frontiers and Ghettos

"With a stunning display of academic mastery, Hajjar provides a definitive and remarkably balanced account of how Israeli military courts operate in the occupied Palestinian territories. Illuminating this hitherto neglected facet of Israel/Palestine by empirically grounded research is also a major contribution to the wider role and limits of law in situations of acute conflict."--Richard Falk, author of The Great Terror War

"Hajjar's sociological and political achievement is both more focused and more general than her study's historical frame. She shows exactly how the military court system in the Occupied Territories was and is a cruel parody of justice--yet also a faithful representation of Israel's liberal legality."--Stanley Cohen, Martin White Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics

From the Back Cover

"Hajjar's book on the Israeli military court system brings together rich ethnographic and historical knowledge with cutting-edge theoretical sophistication."-Austin Sarat, coeditor of Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies, and the Law "This book will be the most authoritative source on the subject for years to come."-James Ron, author of Frontiers and Ghettos --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (January 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520241940
• ISBN-13: 978-0520241947
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,173,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the Israeli Palestinian Conflict, March 7, 2006

By 

raja "aziz" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza (Paperback)

Despite the subtitle this is not just another book about the military courts. It is one of the best books that I have read not only about these courts but about the larger conflict between Israel and Palestine. It is written with academic distance and a personal commitment for justice. It should be read by all those seeking to understand how the Israeli occupation used law to achieve results that go beyond the limits international law imposes on an occupier.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vital book for understanding human rights abuses in Israel/Palestine, September 11, 2005

By 

Louis Frankenthaler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza (Paperback)

Professor Lisa Hajjar's book should be required reading for students of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, advocates of human rights and for anyone who has any doubts about the need to end the Israeli occupation.

Professor Hajjar meticulously analyzes the intricacies of the military court system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. She examines the procedures of arrest, interrogation and trial that Palestinians face on a daily basis. The inherent injustice of this system is skillfully portrayed and it allows the reader to critically interrogate the system itself and the mechanisms that allow it to exist.


Louis Frankenthaler
Education & Development Director
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
Jerusalem, Israel