The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories (Suny Series in Israeli Studies) [Hardcover]

David Kretzmer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0791453375 | ISBN-13: 978-0791453377 | Publication Date: July 2002

The decisions of the Supreme Court of Israel in cases relating to the Occupied Territories.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Occupation of Justice presents the first comprehensive discussion of the Supreme Court of Israel's decisions on petitions challenging policies and actions of the authorities in the West Bank and Gaza since their occupation during the 1967 Six-Day War. Kretzmer addresses issues including: the basis for the Courts jurisdiction; application and interpretation of the international law of belligerent occupation; the legality of civilian settlements and highway construction; and security measures such as curfews, deportations and housing demolitions. While pertaining to a specific political and legal context, this case study has broader implications regarding how courts in democratic countries act in times of conflict and crisis. It shows that at such times domestic courts tend to close ranks with the executive branch against those elements that are perceived as external threats to society.

About the Author

David Kretzmer is Professor of International Law at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of several books, including The Legal Status of the Arabs in Israel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 262 pages
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791453375
• ISBN-13: 978-0791453377
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,162,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Occupied (System of) Justice, September 4, 2002

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"carmina" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories (Suny Series in Israeli Studies) (Paperback)

Could a just legal system endure over 35 years of occupation? David Kretzmer - who examines in this book the jurisprudence of the Israeli Supreme Court relating the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 - is leaving the reader to answer this question. Through this fascinating book, though, he gives a detailed and careful discussion of the legal decisions regarding petitions that challenged policies and actions by the authorities and exhibits through them the way this court operates. Kretzmer shows that the Court has ruled not only contrary to the international law - by approving deportations, house demolitions, and actually legitimizing the Israeli settlements policy - but also contrary to its own interpretation principle. This principle gives presumption to individual human rights when they clash with the authorities' power to restrict them. Contrary to that, the Court's decisions relating to the Occupied Territories are government-minded.

In the first part of the book, Kretzmer gives a clear theoretical and legal basis, by explaining the substantive norms at work in the Supreme Court, distinguishing between jurisdiction and justiciability and and shedding light on the question of applicability of international law to the Occupied Territories. In the second part, he discusses the Court's decisions relating to two major political issues: establishment of Israeli settlements and the status of Palestinian residents of those territories. The third part examines the manner the Court has handled petitions challenging security measures against Palestinian residents - house demolitions, deportations, limitations on personal liberty and more.

Kretzmer - a professor of international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Vice-Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Committee - is far from being simplistic. In his work, he keeps the professional and careful job of an academic jurist and let it speak for itself. He withdraws from popular (and political) sweeping arguments, and concentrates on careful examination of the judicial decisions themselves, in light of the norms that the same Court has undertook to apply. He draws a distinction between substantive matters, in which the court indeed failed to intervene, and the procedural constraints on the use of governmental powers, which the Court made an effort to strengthen. He sees the difference between judges being independent and being neutral. The latter is impossible when it has to do not with dispute between authorities and individuals, but between the first and what is perceived to be involving an attack on the very authority and interests of the state itself, by its enemies. He draws his conclusions in his discreet and understatement way, which shows very effectively how Israel occupies not only land and persons, but also the justice system itself.