Justice for Some

"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 Someoffers 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 Somecalls 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

Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and assistant professor at George Mason University. She has served as legal counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives and as a legal advocate for Palestinian refugee rights at the United Nations. Noura's research interests include human rights and humanitarian, refugee, and national security law. She is a frequent commentator, with recent appearances on CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NPR, among others, and her writings have been widely published in the national media and academic journals.

Introduction 1. Colonial Erasures and the Struggle for Self-Determination 2. Permanent Occupation 3. Pragmatic Revolutionaries 4. The Oslo Peace Process 5. From Occupation to Warfare 6. Conclusion