International law

• Support to Ukraine, response to farmer’s concerns: MEPs review latest EU summits
  On Tuesday, MEPs debated the results of the most recent EU summits, and in particular the Special European Council of 1 February, with Presidents Michel and von der Leyen.
• The EU will “not be intimidated by Russia”, and will support Ukraine for “as long as necessary”, he added.
• Restating that respect for international law is in the EU’s DNA, he strongly rejected applying “double standards” when assessing this conflict.
• They expressed their unwavering support for the country and noted that the delivery of weapons and ammunition must accelerate.

• However, the two-state solution is now further away than it has ever been, with some even proclaiming it “dead”.
• But what actually is the two-state solution and why do so many see this as the only resolution to the conflict?

What is the two-state solution?

• The first attempt at creating side-by-side states occurred before the independence of Israel in 1948.
• More than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from the new state of Israel, fleeing to the West Bank, Gaza and surrounding Arab states.
• This would mean the new Palestinian state would consist of the West Bank prior to Israeli settlement, and Gaza.
• How Jerusalem would be split, if at all, has been a significant point of contention in this plan.

Why is statehood so important?

• The kind of statehood referred to in the two-state solution, known as state sovereignty in international politics, is the authority given to the government of a nation within and over its borders.
• The vast majority of people on Earth live in or legally fall under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state.
• More than 160 members of the UN now recognise Israel; those who do not include Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia.
• As such, the self-determination of Palestinians through the creation of a sovereign state has been a cornerstone of Palestinian political action for decades.

The closest the two sides got – the Oslo Accords

• Negotiations began largely as a result of Palestinian uprisings across the West Bank and Gaza.
• In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Yasser Arafat met in Oslo and signed the first of two agreements called the Oslo Accords.
• The Oslo II Accord was signed in 1995, detailing the subdivision of administrative areas in the occupied territories.
• And over the next few decades, the two-state solution has only become harder to achieve for various reasons, including:

the rise of conservative governments in Israel and lack of effective political pressure from the US
the shrinking political influence of the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas and the rise of Hamas in Gaza, which caused a political split between the two Palestinian territories
Hamas’ vows to annihilate Israel and refusal to recognise the Israeli state as legitimate
the continued growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which has turned the territory into an ever-shrinking series of small enclaves connected by military checkpoints
dwindling support among both Israelis and Palestinians for the model
continued political violence on both sides.
And of course there is Netanyahu – no individual has done more to undermine the two-state solution than the current Israeli leader and his party. In 2010, a leaked recording from 2001 came to light where Netanyahu claimed to have “de facto put an end to the Oslo accords”.

What alternatives are there?

• There aren’t many alternatives and all of them have significant problems.
• Although Arabs already make up around 20% of Israel’s current population, the one-state solution would not be politically feasible.
• According to Zionist ideology, Israel must always remain a majority Jewish state and granting Palestinians citizenship in the occupied territories would undermine this.

Andrew Thomas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• BOSTON, Feb. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Shook, Hardy & Bacon is pleased to announce that Life Sciences Litigator and Partner Tom Sullivan will lead the Boston office as managing partner effective January 14, 2024.
• Shook opened a Boston office in 2019 with five lawyers focusing on high-stakes environmental and toxic tort litigation, as well as complex business disputes, class action, product liability and other areas.
• "Shook has developed a strong reputation in Boston handling product liability, class action, toxic tort and complex litigation," said Sullivan, a Massachusetts native.
• Before joining Shook in 2018, Sullivan was a partner for about a decade at a large international law firm in Philadelphia.

• The US and UK governments have indicated they are considering recognising Palestine as a state after the current conflict ends.
• US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, meanwhile told US media site Axios that he had commissioned the State Department to review potential options for US and international recognition of a Palestinian state.
• Previously, US policy towards Palestinian statehood had been that this was a matter for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
• International recognition would usher in a new phase for the realisation of Palestinian statehood.

Getting recognised

• There is a detailed and complex process by which new states are recognised under international law, established in 1933 by the Montevideo convention on the rights and duties of states.
• It abstained in the UN general assembly vote in 2012 that granted the non-member observer status at the UN.
• It would change the situation to an international armed conflict which involves one or more states taking up arms against another.

Establishing accountability

• In 2021, the ICC prosecutor initiated investigations into the “situation in the state of Palestine”.
• In respect to the territorial scope of this jurisdiction and investigation, it extends to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Palestine’s obligations

• Recognition as a state would involve certain obligations on the part of Palestine, both in terms of international law and human rights.
• States have concrete obligations and duties under international law in relation to how they deal with armed conflicts.
• They are also obliged to act according to international law in recognising and protecting human rights in the territory under their jurisdiction.

Tonny Raymond Kirabira does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.