Time: 6:00 - 8:00pm Venue: Arts One, Lecture Theatre, Mile End Road, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS
The International State Crime Initiative and the School of Law are delighted to host the launch of Noura Erakat's book: Justice for Some - Law and the Question of Palestine, in discussion with Rafeef Ziadah, Nimer Sultany, James Eastwood and chaired by Neve Gordon at Queen Mary University of London.
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.
Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University. Her research interests include humanitarian law, refugee law, national security law, and critical race theory.
Rafeef Ziadah is Lecturer in the Politics and International Studies department at SOAS, University of London. Her research interests include political economy of war and humanitarianism, racism and the security state, with a particular focus on the Middle East.
Dr Nimer Sultany is Reader in Public Law at SOAS University, author of Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring.
James Eastwood is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London and the author of Ethics as Weapon of War: Militarism and Morality in Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Neve Gordon is a professor of international law and human rights at QMUL’s school of law. He is the author of Israel’s Occupation and co-author of The Human Right to Dominate.
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