Kurzbeschreibung

The Goldstone Report of September 2009 started a critical debate at the international level. The Report raised serious allegations of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law with regard to the Israeli attack on Gaza of 27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009, amounting to possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, amidst high political pressure, endorsed the report’s recommendations, calling for prompt and proper investigations to ensure accountability and justice for the victims. Given the lack of proper investigations at the national level, international justice mechanisms are needed. Indeed, the ICC opened a preliminary examination of the situation but difficulties arose because of the uncertain status of the occupied Palestinian territory. The issue of the existence of a State of Palestine is in fact very actual and still unsolved at the UN level.
The book collects important contributions by distinguished international (criminal) law scholars, and brings together for the first time essential follow-up documentation. The underlying question, whether there is a court for Gaza, can be seen as a test case for international justice, and shed a light on the role of international institutions in the difficult combination of law and politics that connotes international justice.
Useful for all those interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as international and criminal law scholars, and humanitarian and human rights organizations.This book examines the difficult combination of law and politics in international justice, in particular the uncertain status of Palestine at the UN level. It tackles the legal issue of whether international justice mechanisms can play a role in Gaza.