International Fora:Recommendations for Action
European Court of Human Rights
An initial campaign with a high likelihood of success, that could
be launched with relatively few resources and with a focus on
"testing the waters" in Europe, should aim at the EU conditioning
trade agreements with Israel on the latter's submission tothe ECHR
(and/or on passage of legislation in Israel to permit
restitution and compensation claims for Palestinians). Another
campaign suggested by the recent cases, which appear to be strong
precedent for Palestinian restitution and compensation
claims, could examine the possibility of bringing claims directly
to the ECHR.
Palestinian residents or citizens of an EU state are prospective petitioners in such actions. Such a petition would have to be extremely well-researched, and would require a coalition of European lawyers with experience in cases before the ECHR, as well as a broad-based coalition for campaigning, to focus attention and publicity on the case/s.
A second level of campaign could focus on bringing petitions before several of the treaty bodies at the same time. This would require substantial resources, close coordination, and also sophisticated and sustained publicity. Since the treaty committee procedures are lengthy and it is difficult to maintain interest in them, it would be critical to plan such a campaign around several coordinated petitions before different committees. Simply filing petitions-- such as the ones before the Economic, Social and Cultural Committee, the Human Rights Committee or the Committee on Racial Discrimination-without a coordinated campaign of publicity and public action, are unlikely to have the impact or create sufficient pressure to force necessary governmental response.
Domestic Claims/Pressure
Outside the US,
this arena also holds great possibility for an activist-based,
rather than a legal-based campaign. The Scandinavian
countries,other European countries besides Germany and France, and
possibly some Latin American countries in which there are large
diaspora Palestinian communities are very good candidates for
pressuring governments to make claims against Israel. If there are
sufficient legal resources, of course, research should be done in
countries with sizable resident Palestinian populations to
determine whether claims could be filed directly in the courts of
those states.
COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL
DISCRIMINATION |
International War Crimes Tribunal
This option needs to be carefully evaluated. On the one hand, it
could be extremely sensational in terms of the publicity that might
be generated around compilation of evidence that reflects Israeli
war cr imes against Palestinians; on the other, if the political
atmosphere is such that the special prosecutors refuse to prosecute
against Israeli defendants, the entire effort could be a useless
waste of precious resources. This option would require a
substantial team of dedicated lawyers to prepare the evidence in
such a way that the prosecutors would have a hard time refusing to
file charges. It would also require significant financial resources
to pay for the legal research and evidence gathering, as well as
for a broad-based and multi-faceted media campaign.
Israeli Legislation/Court Claims
This
appears to be the least favorable option given the apparent lack of
standing of Palestinian claimants to make claims for restitution
and compensation for property in Israeli courts. Nevertheless, the
research should be done-and as quickly as possible-to determine
precisely what Israeli law is in this regard, and whether there are
indirect avenues to raise such claims that have not been adequately
considered. This information could, moreover, be useful in the
campaigns to pressure the EU to require Israel to implement
appropriate legislation, as well as in the campaigns to use other
states' domestic legislation to raise such claims.
The EU and Palestinian Refugee Rights More recently, the EU has conditioned membership, in the case of Poland, on implementation of legislation for restitution ofproperties and assets confiscated during World War II. Similarly, Israel's membership in the UN's Western European and Others Group, as well as other international bodies should be conditioned on restitution of Palestinian refugee properties and assets. In early March 2000, EU parliament members demanded that the EC take action to stop Israel from gaining preferential treatment for goods exported from Jewish settlements, in contravention of its trade agreement with Brussels. (Financial Times, London, 3 March 2000) "An EU diplomat said the Commission had been turning a blind eye to Israel's violation of the trade agreement. It was reluctant, he said, "to rock the boat" in its relations with Ehud Barak, Israeli prime minister, as Brussels sought a political role in the Middle East peace process beyond economically supporting the Palestinians." |