Call for Papers
Qadaya-Journal for Israeli Affairs published by MADAR Ramallah-Palestine
Special Issue: Israel and International Law
International law has been and continues to be implicated in the issue of Israel-Palestine. Even before Israel was established, the Balfour declaration made by the British government in 1917 was incorporated into the resolution of the league of nations in 1922 establishing the mandate over Palestine with the explicit aim of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The Palestinian question serves as a focal point to understand and analyze the limits and the potential of international law. The Balfour declaration demonstrates how coloniality had shaped and continues to shape the interpretation and the application of international law. The blunt creation of an exception for Palestine and the denial of its inhabitants from the right to self-determination is a clear exemplification of coloniality in action. The issue of Palestine was brought to the UN and the establishment of the state of Israel itself came to follow the UN general assembly resolution in 1947. Since then, the issue of Israel-Palestine was a recurrent issue on the UN agenda and on the international agenda in general. One reason for that is that since Israel’s establishment, the UN bodies were involved. A second reason relates to the fact that the question of Palestine became entangled with the Jewish question that occupied Europe as a whole for more than a century. Thirdly, because of the special relations between the US and Israel. Whatever the reasons are, the UN in particular has been involved in the conflict and one can tell its history by studying the different UN reports and resolutions pertaining to Israel/Palestine and the recent ICJ hearing from the last couple of months are just one example.
International law post-WWII continued to favor the interests of colonial powers by advancing notions of sovereignty based on a Westphalian model that structurally disfavored people living in colonies. However, this is only one part of the story of international law. The critique of international law by scholars from the Global South, including a movement known as Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) had indeed highlighted how the colonial roots of international law resulted in the creation of a racialized hierarchy of international norms and institutions. However, TWAIL scholars understood the importance of international law and committed themselves to presenting alternative conceptions and structures of the international legal order. Decolonizing international law is a central part of their intellectual endeavor. The recognition of Palestine as a State for the purpose of joining the International Criminal Court is one example of legal decolonization. It was achieved by giving precedence to the right of people to self-determination over the requirement that the entity claiming to be a state must fully control its territory.
The next issue in our journal will be dedicated to the relations between Israel and international legality; the way the international law looks at Israel/Palestine as a legal question, and at the same time to trace the way Israel relates to international law, bodies and resolutions, in what ways the international law has been influential and in what sense Israel/Palestine is changing the perception and the role of international law. In this regard one can ask if and how does the war on Gaza shape or change some aspects of international law and legality.
We are welcoming papers that touches upon any of these themes. The paper should be between 4000-7000 words. The journal takes upon itself to translate the accepted papers to Arabic. The deadline for submitting the papers is 30.8.2024.
The editors of this special issue are Dr. Sonia Bolous and Dr. Raef Zreik
Papers should be sent to the following emails:
