Project title:
The 1917 Redux—The Occupation of Palestine
No study to date has examined the international law dimensions of British acquisition of control and authority over Palestine in World War I.
Researcher:
Dr Rotem Giladi
Faculty of Business and Law
University of Roehampton
Project proposal:
The current cycle of violence in Israel/Palestine has rekindled debates on the role of international law in mitigating conflict and on its capacity to restrain violence and facilitate the return to peace. Inevitably, these debates see legal arguments framed in historical terms that reference the Oslo accords of the 1990s, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, or the Partition of Palestine in 1947—1949. The British mandate of Palestine (1920—1948), likewise, often features in such debates about war, peace, and law.
Still, although the history of both British rule of Palestine and many of its legal aspects have been thoroughly researched, no study to date has examined the international law dimensions of British acquisition of control and authority over Palestine in WWI. The legal pre-history of the British mandate—both the application of the rules governing occupied territories and their termination with the approval of the Palestine Mandate by the League of Nations Council in 1922—would however have lasting effect on the international legal framing of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its violence. This pilot project aims at developing the (archival) knowledge base required for the preparation of external grant bids to account for this very pre-history.
Photo from palestiniansurprises.com
Themes:
Enabling transformational change
Encouraging the arts
Seeking justice
Promoting wellbeing
Nurturing rooted communities
Thinking globally
Amplifying voices