Research Talk:

 Justice Denied: Of Root Causes, the United Nations and the Illegal Occupation of Palestine

Abstract:

As the unprecedented events unfolding in occupied Gaza demonstrate, the Palestine problem persists with no end in sight. This talk examined one of the root causes that has brought us to where we are today: Israel’s 56-year occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) otherwise known as the occupied State of Palestine. International law posits that occupation of enemy territory is meant to be temporary and that the occupying power may not, by virtue of its occupation, rightfully claim sovereignty over such territory. For over half a century Israel has systematically and forcibly altered the status of occupied Palestine, with the aim of annexing, de jure or de facto, most or all of it. During this time, while the UN has focused on the legality of Israel's discrete violations of humanitarian and human rights law, scant attention has been paid to the legality of its occupation regime as a whole. By what rationale can it be said that Israel's prolonged occupation of Palestine remains legal? What role does the UN have in this matter? To consider this and other related questions, this event hosted Professor Ardi Imseis. This presentation was moderated by Avi Lewis, Associate Professor, UBC Department of Geography.

Bio

Dr. Ardi Imseis is an Assistant Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University. He is author of The United Nations and the Question of Palestine (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Between 2002 and 2014, he served in senior legal and policy capacities with the UN in the Middle East (UNRWA & UNHCR) and is former Senior Legal Counsel to the Chief Justice of Alberta. He is a former Member of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry mandated to investigate violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the civil war in Yemen (2019-2021). He has provided expert testimony in his personal capacity before various high-level bodies, including the UN Security Council, and to members of the UK House of Lords and the French Senate. He holds a Ph.D. (Cambridge), an LL.M. (Columbia), LL.B. (Dalhousie), and B.A. (Hons.) (Toronto).

Co-Organizers:  Indigenous Legal Studies, Allard Law, Middle East Studies, UBC and the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, SFU.