Palestine, Palestinians & International Law (Paperback)

by Francis Anthony Boyle (Author), Haidar Abdul Shaffi (Author) "On June 22, 1987, I delivered a speech before the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People at..." (more)
Key Phrases: criminal apartheid regime, bantustan proposal, independent legislative authority, United States, United Nations, General Assembly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Boyle’s penetrating analyses of Israeli and American roles ... are as cogent as his criticisms are fearless" -- Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

"This book provides a comprehensive legal analysis for the Palestinian right to an independent state." -- Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights

"This book provides important background to how the ICJ reached its conclusions, and some interesting hints about the likely consequences." -- Middle East International

"a valuable historical (and legal) record for those analyzing Palestinian decision-making in the late 1980s and early 1990s." -- Journal of Palestine Studies

"must reading for all those interested in the legal background of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict." -- Arab Studies Quarterly

Product Description
This book provides a comprehensive survey of the international legal principles related to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination: starting with the League of Nations awarding the Mandate for Palestine to Britain after the First World War; through the partition of the Palestine Mandate by the United Nations after the Second World War; to the Palestinian Declaration of an Independent State of their own in 1988; to the diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian State by about 130 other states; through the United Nations granting the State of Palestine all the rights of a UN Member State but the right to vote, etc.

During the past two decades, the author has provided the leadership of the Palestinian people with advice, counsel, and representation at all stages of this process. The scholarly analyses that he used to back up this critical work can be found in the pages of this book. Another chapter analyzes the hypocrisy and double-standards behind the Bush Jr. administration’s bogus "war on international terrorism," with special reference to U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East and the Muslim World after 11 September 2001.

The concluding chapter provides advice and guidance to the international grassroots Campaign for Israeli Divestment/Disinvestment, which were all inspired by the author’s involvement in the original Divestment/Disinvestment Campaign against the former criminal apartheid regime in South Africa. Today the Republic of South Africa stands as a beacon of hope for oppressed peoples and states all over the world. The same can be true for Palestine and Israel. This book explains why and how that can be done.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: Clarity Press (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093286337X
• ISBN-13: 978-0932863379
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #730,115 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine assertion of Palestine's right to statehood, May 18, 2005

By	William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In international law, Palestine is an independent nation. Article 22(4) of the Covenant of the League of Nations (1919), the 1922 Mandate for Palestine and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) recognised that all Arab territories of the former Ottoman provinces, including Palestine, were to be granted freedom as provisionally independent nations. As the Covenant asserted, "their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised." This was reaffirmed in the UN Charter, Article 80(1).

What then is the root of the problem in the Middle East? On 7 October 2000 the Security Council adopted Resolution 1322 by 14 votes to nil, with the USA abstaining. In Paragraph 1 the Council "Deplores the provocation carried out at Al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem on 28 September and the subsequent violence there ... " Thereby it held Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Temple Mount responsible for starting the current round of warfare. In Paragraph 3 the Council called Israel `the occupying power'. The UN recognises Israel as only a belligerent occupant of Palestine's land, with no sovereign rights there.

The condition of Israel's original admission to the UNO was its acceptance of Resolution 181(II) 1947 on partition and Resolution 194(III) 1948 on the Palestinians' right of return. Israel has now expressly repudiated both Resolutions, violating its condition for admission to UN membership.

Israel is trying to impose a colonial deal on the Palestinians like the `independence' agreements that the British government in the 1950s imposed on the Cypriot government, that British military bases there were to be sovereign British, not Cypriot, territory.

And what is the source of the problem in the Middle East? Not some original Arab sin of lacking the culture of democracy or any other colonialist insult, but the British Empire. As Boyle sums up, the "political problems of the Middle East ... were created by Britain's irresponsible, illegal and void ab initio attempt to terminate the Mandate for Palestine unilaterally."

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant overview, August 30, 2005

By	Nathan East "a regular guy" (Haifa, Israel) - See all my reviews

This is a brilliant overview of the legal framework of analysing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, written for a lay audience.

Boyle demonstrates that Palestine is legally a state - recognised by over 110 countries worldwide - and that since Israel has refused to recognise it, and has, in fact, trampled over its sovereign rights, it deserves to be suspended from the United Nations.

Israel's entry into the UN, after all, was contingent on its adherence to UN Security Council Resolutions 181 and 194, which, fifty-seven years later, it has failed to implement. These constitute gross violations of international law, for which there must be legal consequences.

Boyle effectively proves his points with a learned, yet accessible style; unfortunately, intelligent and reasoned views such as his are absent in American discourse on this topic, especially in the "paper of record", the New York Times.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good view on the crisis based on international law, May 14, 2005

By	Edgar Hopida (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The previous reviewer shows their obvious bias toward Israel. This book is basically giving by international legal standards, what palestinians have a right to due to the course of law and what the israeli government has not allowed them to achieve. Noam Chomsky said it best when he defined the hypocrite as refusing to apply to themselves the same standards it applies to others. If its wrong for one country it should be wrong for other countries. Israel just by looking at the Un security council resolutions from the early 1950s to the present, has violated far more resolutions than any country combined. Yet no sanctions or actions are put on that country but others do. What Dr Boyle suggests is hold the israeli government accountable for what they do and to give the palestinians the right , true right to self determination as outlined by international law and treaties. The previous reviewer keeps mentioning the holocaust..maybe she should read finkelstein's book who criticizes israel yet is the son of holocaust survivors. the holocaust does not give the israeli government the excuse to oppress others. In psychology, its like an abused child going about abusing their kids when they get older. they cycle of oppression and genocide must end. israel must be held accountable for what it has done to palestinians. This book shows a good example of this according to international law