Academic literature on the topic 'Bedouins – Legal status, laws, etc. – Israel'

Since the establishment of the State and up to the present day, Israeli law has had to deal with a great number of various problems in the field of international law, e.g. whether the State of Israel is a successor to the obligations of the Mandatory government; the jurisdiction of the Israeli courts with regard to offences committed in demilitarized zones or beyond the State's boundaries (on the high seas or abroad); the immunity of foreign states and their representatives from the jurisdiction of Israeli courts and from measures of execution; the status of international organizations and of their employees; the effect and implications of official acts performed within the territory of a state which is at war with Israel; the effect of international treaties in Israel; the question whether the Eastern neighbourhoods of Jerusalem are part of Israel; various issues concerning extradition, and of course, many questions regarding the laws of war: the powers of the military governor, and in particular his power to expropriate land in the territories under Israeli control and to expel residents from the territories, the extent of his legislative powers, etc.

INTRODUCTION. The article deals with the evolution of the Palestinian citizenship and the possibility of its development under the occupation of the Palestinian territories. Citizenship is a classic institution of public law and is perceived in a similar way in various legal systems. In this case, however, there is a very special phenomenon, the content of which is due to a number of historical, political and international legal factors.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The research is based on the analysis of Balfour Declaration 1917, UN Partition Plan for Palestine 1947, Agreement Oslo II 1995, Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in relation to the Succession of States (ILC, 1999), Articles on Diplomatic Protection (ILC, 2006), Israeli law governing the status of Palestinians, nationality laws of the Arab states, political and regulatory acts of Palestinian institutions. The research methods include historical method, methods of formal logic, comparative method and various methods of interpretation. A significant part of the research is a comparison of positions of Israeli and Palestinian lawyers, as well as an analysis of various options for the development of the Palestinian citizenship.RESEARCH RESULTS. Currently, the status of residents of the occupied territories is determined by the Oslo II Agreement of 1995: the administrative powers are delegated to the Palestinian Authority; Israel retains the right of control. The resident status is not equivalent to the status of a citizen and is sui generis. This status implies a number of Israel’s obligations: to end it and provide a citizenship to Palestinians; recognize its international elements; transfer more powers to Palestinian institutions. The lack of regular citizenship makes it difficult for Palestinians to enjoy diplomatic protection from Palestinian institutions.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Presently, there are conditions for the establishment (declaration) of the Palestinian citizenship, which would fix a political connection sui generis, implying the rights of Palestinians to participate in administration of the occupied territories, their membership in a nation striving for self-determination, the right of Palestinian institutions to provide diplomatic and other protection, etc. This citizenship should be provided automatically, since it involves not naturalization, but consideration of existing social and vital ties of Palestinians to their people. The solution of the problem of diplomatic protection may consist in the development of customary law and the search for new tools, for example, protection on the part of international organizations.

Defence date: 25 April 2018
Examining Board: Professor Nehal Bhuta, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Sally Engle Merry, New York University; Professor Tobias Kelly, University of Edinburgh; Professor Claire Kilpatrick, European University Institute
This study constitutes a socio-legal inquiry into the practice of international human rights law. Specifically, the study unpacks the ways in which the concept and category of indigenous peoples is made active and given effect among the Bedouin in the Negev desert in Israel, since before the turn of the new millennium. Drawing contextualized insights from Bedouin localities, the case studies demonstrate the various layers of intermediaries and actors involved and the processes by which the Bedouin have appropriated the international concept and category to make it into a Bedouin vernacular. Grounded in law and society and legal anthropology, this research deploys socio-legal and historical analyses and is supported by rich empirical fieldwork, including extensive interviews and ethnographic observation. In the process of reconstructing how the international concept and category of indigenous peoples came to be invoked in this particular context, this research sheds critical light on how local and global discourses and understandings of internationally-defined status and rights interact and produce tensions, hybridities, and new subjectivities as well as legal and political dynamics at the domestic and international level.
Chapter 4 'The concept and category of indigenous peoples : theoretical and contextualized accounts' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as chapter 'International law in transit : the concept of 'indigenous peoples' and its transitions in international, national and local realms : the example of the Bedouin in the Negev' (2016) in the book 'International law and... : select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law'

This chapter explores the development of international law on indigeneity. It reviews the legal protections endowed by key documents, such as International Labor Organizations Convention No. 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The chapter also provides a short comparative legal perspective on land rights of indigenous peoples which helps to situate the Israeli case within other settler colonial situations and to address the status of the relevant international legislation and norms. It concludes that several components of the UNDRIP have gained a status of international customary law, and hence with growing relevance to Israeli jurisprudence and to the Bedouins. The chapter ends by addressing the question of indigenous peoples’ rights in Israeli law and how Israeli basic laws should expand to incorporate the legal protection of the Bedouins.