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Israel at 60: Confronting the Rising Challenge to Its Historical and Legal Rights

 
Filed under: International Law
Publication: Special Reports

The year 2008 marks sixty years since the establishment of the State of Israel. Yet, today, notwithstanding a 1922 League of Nations Mandate affirming the Jewish people’s right to reconstitute itself in its ancient homeland, Israel’s fifty-nine year membership in the United Nations and its extraordinary achievements, the very legitimacy of a Jewish state remains an issue of public debate.

This conference, held on March 26, 2008, engaged in a critical examination of the debate on Israel’s legitimacy, and the rights of a Jewish nation-state and Jewish self-determination among other nation-states of the world and other nations’ claims to self-determination.

Contents

The Challenge to Israel’s Legitimacy – Amb. Dore Gold

Israel at 60 – Dr. Lars Hansel

BBC Impartiality? – Trevor Asserson

Selective Human Rights: NGOs and the Delegitimization of Israel – Prof. Gerald Steinberg

Jewish Anti-Zionists and the Delegitimization of Israel – Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi

Jerusalem: A Microcosm of Jewish Rights – Sir Martin Gilbert

The Rights of Jews to Statehood – Prof. Ruth Gavison

The Evolution of Israel’s Boundaries – Amb. Yehuda Z. Blum

Israel – An “Illegitimate” State? – Dr. Abraham Bell

Universal Jurisdiction – Adv. Irit Kohn

Laundering Delegitimization – MP Prof. Irwin Cotler

International Legitimacy and International Law – Daniel Taub