Episode 125 - The Limits of International Law with Dr. Ardi Imseis

Interview
Written By Palestine Pod

This week, Lara and Michael sit down with the Associate Professor of Law at Queen’s University, Dr. Ardi Imseis. Dr. Imseis has testified at the UN commission of inquiry into the civil war in Yemen, he’s served with UNRWA, and he’s testified for the UN security council and the UN human rights council among many other accolades. He’s also the author of ’The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity.’ This is a fascinating interview, touching on all the major transition points in Palestine from 1947 onwards. Dr. Imseis’ main observation is that the promise of justice made through the initial partition of Palestine is one in which the goalposts are continually moved, and that Palestine, as an outlier among international law cases, is one of legal subalternity. He uses the decolonization movement from many former British and French entities (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq) as an example, and points out how this has missed Palestinians. The biggest key moment, he theorizes, was the General Assembly Resolution of 1947 which legally partitioned Palestine to 509,000 Arabs compared 499,000 Jews, yet called for a democratic state in which the minority was to be in power. The very set up of ‘the state of Israel’ was therefore flawed. At the time of partition, the Jewish population amounted to 5.6%, whereas the Arab population was 56%, however the UN General Assembly gave the majority of the land to the new Jewish state. The right of Palestinian self-determination was comprised from the onset of this ruling, and the consequences of those decisions remain today. Following the Nakba, Palestinians were referred to as an ‘ignorant majority’, and no accountability has been offered since, defying the UN’s obligations under international law to prohibit denationalization. Michael points out how Jewish people publicly opposed zionism during the 1919 Jewish Labor Congress. Lara adds that the Palestinian right of return is the most fundamental among rights. This week’s episode provides a deep dive into the limits of international law; how it doesn’t necessarily deliver justice or liberate, and how revisionist history is widespread and dangerous.

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