Tag: George Bisharat

The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict

Adam Horowitz and Philip Weiss

Our dear friends Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz of Mondoweiss at an event organized by Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) to launch of their new book The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict, an edited version of Judge Goldstone’s U.N. report documenting war crimes during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. It includes essays by Raji Sourani, Leila El-Haddad, Ali Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Brian Baird, with a forward by Desmond Tutu and an introduction by Naomi Klein.

The event was chaired by Penny Rosenwasser of MECA. Also speaking at the event were Prof. George Bisharat of UC Hastings Law School and Barbara Lubin of MECA.

Continue reading “The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict”

Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Palestinian-American law professor and commentator George Bisharat.
Palestinian-American law professor and commentator George Bisharat.

In April George Bisharat wrote an article for the San Francisco Chronicle titled Changing the Rules of War giving a legal perspective on Israeli conduct in Gaza.  He stated that “what is less appreciated is how Israel is … brutalizing international law, in ways that may long outlast the demolition of Gaza.”  I’m sure if you read it in April, you’d remember it, and if you haven’t read it, I can’t recommend it more highly.

Maximizing Rights is a previous work of his, published 2008 in the Berkley journal Global Jurist.  In it he states that it’s time to face the painful truth: the two-state solution has failed.  He argues for a new paradigm, with a rights-based approach, that favours a one-state solution as it provides “the widest array of rights to the greatest number of Palestinians and Israelis.”  Simply put: the one-state solution is the most just solution and is most likely to bring lasting peace.

The article can be downloaded for free on the journals website. I’ve included the abstract below.

Continue reading “Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”

Changing the rules of war

George Bisharat, professor of law at Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, writes, in the San Francisco Chronicle, that “what is less appreciated is how Israel is […] brutalizing international law, in ways that may long outlast the demolition of Gaza.”

The extent of Israel’s brutality against Palestinian civilians in its 22-day pounding of the Gaza Strip is gradually surfacing. Israeli soldiers are testifying to lax rules of engagement tantamount to a license to kill. One soldier commented: “That’s what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a path. He doesn’t have to be with a weapon, you don’t have to identify him with anything and you can just shoot him.”

What is less appreciated is how Israel is also brutalizing international law, in ways that may long outlast the demolition of Gaza.

Continue reading “Changing the rules of war”

%d bloggers like this: