Professor Malvina HalberstamBenjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Y.U.

Arab-Israeli Conflict: Current Legal IssuesSpring 2017

The Arab-Israeli Conflict is in the news almost daily. It involves complex political and legal issues. The focus of this seminar will be on some of the legal issues. One of the most complex and controversial legal issuesis whether Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria (“West Bank”) (“Occupied Palestinian Territory”) is a violation of international law. Four class sessions are devoted to discussing the legal documents that have a bearing on this question.

I have generally discussed the documents in chronological order. However, the adoption by the U.N. Security Council of Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016, that it is a violation of international law, has so dominated the news that I thought rather than waiting to consider it in chronological order, in the last session, we should look at that Resolution and Security Council Resolution 242, the most important Security Council Resolution on the subject, at the outset.

Please read both resolutions carefully and consider the following questions:

  1. What are the operative paragraphs of each;
  2. Are they consistent with each other;
  3. Are they consistent with the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine;
  4. Is the Mandate binding under international law;
  5. Is U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 binding under international law;
  6. Is U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 binding under international law?

Assignment for January 19, 2017

  1. Peel Commission Report (1937), Excerpts (Chapter 1, Historical Background)
  2. The Balfour Declaration
  3. Statement by President Woodrow Wilson (August 31, 1918)
  4. Statement by President Woodrow Wilson (March 3, 1919)
  5. Feisal-Weizmann Agreement (January 3, 1919)
  6. Feisal-Frankfurter Correspondence (March 3 – 5, 1919)
  7. The San Remo Resolution (April 25, 1920)
  8. Statement by President Warren Harding (June 1, 1921)
  9. Statement by President Warren Harding (May 11, 1922)
  10. Joint Resolution of Congress “Favoring the Establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People” (June 30, 1922)
  11. The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (July 24, 1922)
  12. Memorandum by the British Representative, Approved by the Council, Suspending Application of the Mandate for Palestine to Part of the Territory (79%) (September 16, 1922)
  13. Convention between U.S. and U.K. on Palestine (Dec. 5, 1925)
  14. L. Oppenheim, INTERNATIONAL LAW § 238, 241(a) (H. Lauterpacht ed., 8th ed. 1955)
  15. Letter from Sir Henry McMahon Concerning the “McMahon” Pledge (July 27, 1937)
  16. Martin Gilbert, “An Overwhelmingly Jewish State” – From the Balfour Declaration to the Palestine Mandate
  17. Maps showing territory of original Mandate for Palestine and territory after Transjordan was established
  18. U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181
  19. Statement by Mahmoud Abbas to U.N. General Assembly (September 22, 2016)
  20. U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 (Nov. 22, 1967)
  21. U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 (Dec. 23, 2016)

Please read the material and, if at all possible, print it and bring it to classin hard copy.

Thank you. Professor Halberstam