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Currently browsing entries tagged ‘Palestine’
What the ICJ ruling on Kosovo could mean for Palestine
The year 2009 saw a renewed push, albeit a stunted one, for Palestinian statehood. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad gained considerable attention in the West for his plan to oversee construction of state infrastructure from the ground up, and for his announcement that this would lead to a declaration of independence within two years. There has been notable progress, with significant growth both in the Palestinian economy and its governmental and security infrastructure. Given the current political climate in Israel, however, it seems unlikely that a bilateral peace agreement will be reached by Fayyad’s deadline. If negotiations don’t yield the results the Palestinian Authority (PA) is seeking, will it take the bold move of declaring statehood unilaterally? The Palestinians tried this gambit before, unsuccessfully, in the pre-PA days.
The success or failure of such a move largely hinges on the international community’s (and in particular, a few key players’) willingness to recognize Palestinian sovereignty against Israel’s wishes. To gain recognition as a member of the United Nations, it would require the support of at least 96 countries including all permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
A number of analysts have already noted similarities between the case of Palestine and that of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia two years ago next week. Though remaining nominally under UN administration under the terms of UNSC Resolution 1244, to date Kosovo’s independence…
BY Alexandra Dodger
FILED UNDER
Human Rights
Humanitarian
Private International Law
Quebec Courts Open a New Chapter on Corporate Civil Liability: Paying for War Crimes?
The Palestinian village of Bil’in is headed to the Quebec Cour d’appel, in an attempt to hold two Montreal corporations civilly liable for their actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. Justice Louis-Paul Cullen of the Superior Court ruled against the villagers in a decision handed down on September 18, 2009.
Bil’in is a tiny agricultural community of 1,800 residents located 12 kilometres west of Ramallah, well within to the 1967 Armistice line dividing Israel and the West Bank. Though it is firmly rooted in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the village has been bisected by the Israeli “Security Barrier”. The route of the barrier was deemed to be illegal, and in breach of international law by the International Court of Justice in 2004. In 2007, the High Court of Justice in Israel ordered the wall re-routed, confirming they saw no security or military reasons to maintain the current path of the wall, deeming it “highly prejudicial” to the villagers of Bil’in. Still, the wall remains in place, prompting Bil’in and its allies to seek new forums for judicial redress.
Their attorney, Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, decided a new approach was needed and began to target the corporations that he claims are complicit in the loss of Bil’in’s land. On the other side of the Israeli barrier, the settlement bloc of Modi’in Ilit has been constructed. And the development companies building these rapidly growing…
