United Nations

U.S. President Donald Trump with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a welcome ceremony in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on May 23, 2017. (Flash90)

PODCAST: Has international law failed Palestinians?

Palestinian legal scholar Noura Erakat proposes a different, inclusive vision that guarantees justice and dignity for all oppressed groups in Israel and Palestine. Listen here: iTunes/Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify Israel has been able to leverage international law to its advantage much better than the Palestinians, says Noura Erakat, Palestinian legal scholar, human rights activist and author of Justice…

By +972 Magazine August 30, 2019

Palestinian women pass through Qalandiya checkpoint on the way to Jerusalem on the first Friday of Ramadan, May 10, 2019. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israel doesn’t have to be an apartheid state

It is our duty to take every opportunity to say to the world that the occupation is not Israel, that we are not willing to continue imposing military rule on another people any longer. By Zehava Galon In Israel of 2019, the controversy is no longer over one state, two states, democracy or apartheid. Today,…

By +972 Magazine May 20, 2019

Activists march in Boston, Mass. on October 25, 2014, calling for an end to police racial profiling and violence. The protest came in the wake of events in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed black man. (Activestills.org)

A masterclass in Palestine solidarity

By using his platform to elevate marginalized Palestinian views onto the global stage, Marc Lamont Hill’s UN speech challenged the unequal parameters of permissible thought on the conflict. Watching Marc Lamont Hill’s speech at the United Nations on Wednesday was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike the mundane and repetitive remarks made by aging…

By Amjad Iraqi November 30, 2018

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Palestinian irregulars near a burnt armored Haganah supply truck, the road to Jerusalem, 1948. (Palmach Archive)

The unknown history of the UN plan to partition Palestine

Twenty years after the Palestinian leadership declared partition ‘entirely illegal,’ they reversed course and recognized that accepting the division of the homeland could lay the groundwork for an independent state. By Jerome M. Segal A few days ago, Israel and its supporters worldwide marked the 70th Anniversary of the 1947 Partition Resolution, which was passed by the UN…

By +972 Magazine December 1, 2017

The UN Security Council votes to pass Resolution 2334, condemning Israeli settlements, 14-0, December 23, 2016. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo)

There’s nothing ‘pro-Israel’ about the UNSC vote — and that’s a good thing

The Israeli Left was quick to praise the UN Security Council’s resolution against the settlements, arguing that it was ‘good for Israel.’ As usual, the Palestinians were left out of the equation. Ever since the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements last Friday, the Israeli Left has, for the most part,…

By Orly Noy December 25, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens as European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini addresses reporters on July 18, 2016. (Wiki Commons)

U.S. abstention is a message to Europe: End Israel’s impunity

The U.S. essentially admitted that its unyielding defense of Israel in the diplomatic arena was a disastrous strategy. With Obama bowing out, Europe will need to act on this lesson. Shortly after the UN Security Council passed its resolution criticizing Israeli settlements on Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a press statement by John Kerry…

By Amjad Iraqi December 25, 2016

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. (File photo by Staff Sgt. Jorge Intriago/US Army)

What Trump’s new UN envoy could mean for Israel-Palestine

Whatever disruptions are afoot in the balance of international power will eventually be reflected at the United Nations. And when that happens, even a staunch supporter of Israel like Nikki Haley may have to yield to a new order. When she signed into law the first state legislation penalizing companies that boycott “based on race,…

By Samer Badawi November 23, 2016

Israeli soldiers in battle with the Arab village of Sassa in the upper Galilee, October 1, 1948. (GPO)

Using education to normalize horrific acts of violence

This is how the Israeli education system makes it possible for generation after generation of Israelis to accept the most brutal forms of state violence. By Gil Gertel October provides Israelis a number of opportunities for self examination, one of which happened just a week ago, on October 14. On that night in 1953, 600 Israeli soldiers — half…

By +972 Magazine October 23, 2016

Palestinian women look on and react as Jerusalem municipality workers demolish a residential building in an East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, on October 29, 2013. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘The occupation is sustainable because the world refuses to take action’

The following is a transcript of the prepared remarks B’Tselem executive director Hagai El-Ad delivered to UN Security Council members during a special ‘Arria-formula’ session on ‘Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution’ in New York on October 14, 2016. By Hagai El-Ad Members of the Security Council, Ladies and Gentlemen, Before I begin, I would…

By +972 Magazine October 14, 2016

Israel’s showdown with the UN over immunity for Gazan engineer

Does a UN engineer Israel accuses of working with Hamas have immunity from prosecution? The UN says that if Israel shares evidence of his guilt, it will lift the immunity. So why won't Israel hand over the evidence?

By +972 Magazine September 21, 2016

Jaffa protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners (Mati Milstein)

A law criminalizing torture: The first step on a long path

Unless a law to criminalize torture is passed, we cannot begin combatting the view that a human being’s body and soul can be abused for punishment or to extract information. By Rachel Stroumsa Representatives of the Israeli Justice Ministry announced last week in Geneva that the ministry is working on a law criminalizing torture in Israel. A…

By +972 Magazine May 11, 2016

Illustrative photo of Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli military prison (By ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

A law banning torture in Israel? Don’t hold your breath

An anti-torture law currently being drafted by the Justice Ministry is not enough to fix an entire legal system that allows the practice to be used against an occupied population. During its review session at the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva on Wednesday, Israel’s representatives informed the committee that the Justice Ministry is drafting…

By Amjad Iraqi May 6, 2016

Imprisoned PLO leader Marwan Barghouti (SP Foto/CC BY NC-ND 2.0)

Marwan Barghouti is planning a comeback — from behind bars

He may be serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison but Marwan Barghouti is the only leader who has a chance to succeed Mahmoud Abbas and unite the Palestinian people. This is how he plans on doing it. By Menachem Klein Until recently Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was considered only a lame duck.…

By +972 Magazine April 16, 2016