Last week, LPHR’s director spoke on a panel event with the UK Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer MP, Melanie Ward MP, Abtisam Mohamed MP, Yachad and Young Labour. […] The post Upholding international law and its inextricable link to applying accountability measures appeared first on Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.
Last week, LPHR’s director spoke on a panel event with the UK Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer MP, Melanie Ward MP, Abtisam Mohamed MP, Yachad and Young Labour.
The event in parliament was organised by Labour Friends for Palestine and the Middle East, and was entitled: ‘Pathways out of the crisis in Palestine’. The audience were predominantly Young Labour members.
Tareq Shrourou spoke immediately after Minister Hamish Falconer MP. A transcript of Tareq’s short speech is immediately below:
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I am honoured to be part of this excellent panel. And it’s great to again be alongside Melanie, who, as CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, was outstanding in opening a charities’ meeting with Keir Starmer shortly after October 7th.
I will use that meeting to help illustrate my key message today which is emphasising the importance of upholding international law and its inextricable link to accountability measures.
My aim going into that meeting last October was to provide a precise legal assessment and to emphasise that accountability is key. I will read out what I briefly said to Keir Starmer – who I actually worked under on a Court of Appeal case as a trainee solicitor. I hoped to show I could still be trusted with providing accurate legal assistance.
‘I would like to provide a summary legal assessment of Israel’s military response in Gaza. It is extremely grim and alarming.
First, the massive scale of destruction and the number of homes and civilians attacked raise acute concern that Israel’s interpretation of what constitutes a ‘military objective’ is broader than the definition provided by international humanitarian law (IHL).
Second, the order of a “complete siege” on Gaza strongly appears to amount to a serious violation of the IHL prohibition of starvation against civilians as a method of warfare.
Third, there is a substantial risk that the ‘evacuation order’ in northern Gaza will devolve to a mass forcible transfer of half of Gaza’s population on an indefinite basis, which would be a serious breach of IHL.’
14 months on, and it is shocking that this summary legal assessment is still acutely relevant today. It is clear that international law is being very seriously violated in Gaza. And it is also clear that international law will be fundamentally undermined without accountability action.
It is therefore significant that the new government has adopted the principled position of not opposing international courts upholding the rule of law in the context of Israel/Palestine.
I was also really encouraged to hear Minister Falconer say during the recent Urgent Question on Arrest Warrants that, “The international rule of law is incredibly important to this government. All our action will be guided by it.” This is excellent and necessary.
It is valuable to re-emphasise here the inextricable linkage between upholding international law and accountability measures. They go hand-in-hand. And they require urgent application in the specific context of Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, as found by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July this year.
The ICJ found that Israel is committing a series of serious breaches of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory, including annexation; systematic discrimination, racial segregation and apartheid; and depriving the Palestinian people of their fundamental right to self determination.
The ICJ found these serious breaches of international law renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory to be unlawful, and that it must be brought rapidly to an end.
The ICJ asserted that all States are under a legal obligation not to recognise as lawful, nor aid or assist the maintenance of, Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory.
And the ICJ further asserted that all States should undertake lawful measures to ensure the rapid termination of Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
You will note here that the ICJ is emphasising the inextricable link between upholding international law and applying accountability measures. The onus and legal obligation is on all States, including the UK, to take necessary urgent action to uphold international law and safeguard Palestinian self-determination.
I will end by suggesting three necessary accountability actions that can be swiftly taken by the UK government (they are in no particular order):
- Make it a clear red line in negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with Israel that there is a geographical clause which expressly excludes the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.
- Settlement products should be banned from entry into the UK market. It has long been a glaring anomaly that whilst successive governments have recognised that Israel’s settlements are illegal, it permits products from those settlements to enter the UK, which arguably amounts to unlawfully aiding or assisting an illegal situation.
- Sanction Israeli government ministers actively pursuing a policy of annexation of Palestinian land.
The law can be used rightfully to help safeguard the future of the Palestinian people, and serve peaceful coexistence between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. Let’s encourage the UK government to indeed ‘be guided in their actions by international law’.
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