This book deals with the possible investigation and prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of crimes allegedly committed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In light of the Rome Statute and the Practice of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Court, among others, it examines the route, possible outcomes, and challenges that may arise were the Palestine situation to be brought before the ICC. The subject matter is approached using the route the Prosecutor of the Court would generally employ to deal with situations. The publication offers a step-by-step procedure by which to conduct the preliminary examination and investigation of the situation in Palestine and deals with matters of jurisdiction, followed by a discussion of the fundamental concepts of complementarity and gravity to determine the admissibility before the ICC. Alleged crimes particularly unique to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as the construction of settlements, forced displacement, house demolitions, the expropriation of land, the crime of apartheid and the blockade of Gaza, are dealt with in light of the Rome Statute and international law. On the basis of the established theories of transitional justice, the possible impacts of an ICC investigation and prosecution on the conflict are analysed and a number of insights are shared with regard to the impacts of the ICC on combatting impunity, fostering Palestine’s statehood, peace negotiations and the stability of the region. Due to the politicisation of the conflict and the various interests at stake, the impact of the ICC’s involvement on the credibility of the ICC itself is also reviewed. Recognizing the numerous impacts of the conflict on the existence of the two nations and the multitude of causes for its perpetuity, it does not limit itself to the ICC, but also provides other conflict resolution alternatives that could enable reconciliation and sustainable peace in the region. This book provides an array of opinions and a crucial input for researchers and practitioners alike, while it is also useful to those investigating and possibly involved in prosecutions regarding Palestine or other similar situations before the ICC. Seada Hussein Adem obtained a PhD from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, an LLM from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and an LLB from Haramaya University, Ethiopia./div

The 'Goldstone Report' of September 2009 started a critical debate at the international level. The Report raised serious allegations of grave violations of international law with regard to the Israeli attack on Gaza of 27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009, amounting to possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, amidst high political pressure, endorsed the Report’s recommendations, calling for prompt and proper investigations to ensure accountability and justice for the victims. Given the lack of proper investigations at the national level, international justice mechanisms are now needed. Indeed, the ICC opened a preliminary examination of the situation but difficulties arose because of the uncertain status of the occupied Palestinian territory. The issue of the existence of a State of Palestine is extremely actual and still unsolved at the UN level. With a foreword by prof. William Schabas, the book collects contributions by renowned international law professors as Eric David, John Dugard, Richard Falk and many other distinguished scholars and lawyers, and brings together for the first time essential documentation on the 'Gaza conflict'. The underlying question, whether there is a court for Gaza, can be seen as a test case for international justice, and shed a light on the role of international institutions in the difficult combination of law and politics that connotes international justice. Useful for all those interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as international and criminal law scholars, and human rights and humanitarian organizations.

A lexicon of the legal, administrative, and military terms and concepts central to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

What happens when the international community simultaneously pursues peace and justice in response to ongoing conflicts? What are the effects of interventions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the wars in which the institution intervenes? Is holding perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable a help or hindrance to conflict resolution? This book offers an in-depth examination of the effects of interventions by the ICC on peace, justice and conflict processes. The 'peace versus justice' debate, wherein it is argued that the ICC has either positive or negative effects on 'peace', has spawned in response to the Court's propensity to intervene in conflicts as they still rage. This book is a response to, and a critical engagement with, this debate. Building on theoretical and analytical insights from the fields of conflict and peace studies, conflict resolution, and negotiation theory, the book develops a novel analytical framework to study the Court's effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. This framework is applied to two cases: Libya and northern Uganda. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the core of the book examines the empirical effects of the ICC on each case. The book also examines why the ICC has the effects that it does, delineating the relationship between the interests of states that refer situations to the Court and the ICC's institutional interests, arguing that the negotiation of these interests determines which side of a conflict the ICC targets and thus its effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. While the effects of the ICC's interventions are ultimately and inevitably mixed, the book makes a unique contribution to the empirical record on ICC interventions and presents a novel and sophisticated means of studying, analyzing, and understanding the effects of the Court's interventions in Libya, northern Uganda - and beyond.

“A brilliant and bracing analysis of the Palestine question and settler colonialism . . . a vital lens into movement lawyering on the international plane.” —Vasuki Nesiah, New York University, founding member of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) Justice in the Question of Palestine is often framed as a question of law. Yet none of the Israel-Palestinian conflict’s most vexing challenges have been resolved by judicial intervention. Occupation law has failed to stem Israel’s settlement enterprise. Laws of war have permitted killing and destruction during Israel’s military offensives in the Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accord’s two-state solution is now dead letter. Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel’s interests than the Palestinians’. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable. Law is politics, and its meaning and application depend on the political intervention of states and people alike. Within the law, change is possible. International law can serve the cause of freedom when it is mobilized in support of a political movement. Presenting the promise and risk of international law, Justice for Some calls for renewed action and attention to the Question of Palestine. “Careful and captivating . . . This book asks that the Palestinian liberation struggle and Jewish-Israeli society each reckon with the impossibility of a two-state future, reimagining what their interests are—and what they could become.” —Amanda McCaffrey, Jewish Currents

Contemporary Issues Facing the International Criminal Court is a collection of essays by prominent international criminal law commentators, responsive to questions of interest to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Topics include: • Jurisdiction: The 2008-2009 Gaza Issue • The Obligation to Arrest in the Darfur Context • Appropriate Limitations on Oversight • The ICC and Prevention of Crimes • Reparations • Proving Mass Rape • Focus on Africa: Is the ICC Biased? • Increasing Rates of Apprehension and Arrest Richard H. Steinberg is Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California (Los Angeles), and Editor-in-Chief of www.ICCforum.com, a collaboration with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Fatou B. Bensouda, who wrote the foreword, is Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

This book theorizes the ways in which states that are presumed to be weaker in the international system use the International Criminal Court (ICC) to advance their security and political interests. Ultimately, it contends that African states have managed to instrumentally and strategically use the international justice system to their advantage, a theoretical framework that challenges the “justice cascade” argument. The empirical work of this study focuses on four major themes around the intersection of power, states' interests, and the global governance of atrocity crimes: firstly, the strategic use of self-referrals to the ICC; secondly, complementarity between national and the international justice system; thirdly, the limits of state cooperation with international courts; and finally the use of international courts in domestic political conflicts. This book is valuable to students, scholars, and researchers who are interested in international relations, international criminal justice, peace and conflict studies, human rights, and African politics.