The Legal Status of Palestine Under International Law

Paul J.I.M. de Waart

This book was issued in 1995 by the Birzeit Law Center; it discusses the legal status of Palestine under international law, and the legal complications that followed the recognition of Palestine as a state by a substantial majority of members of the United Nations. In doing so, the author addresses the two main arguments surrounding this issue. The first argument relates to whether Palestine fulfils the legal criteria for statehood. The second relates to Israel’s security concerns and its effect on a just and lasting peace.

Furthermore, the author poses the question of whether the Palestinian people should have their own state, and highlights the obstacles regarding the attainment of statehood. Additionally, the book discusses the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, particularly, the 1993 Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, and the 1994 Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area. More specifically, the author examines the significance of these agreements in realistically representing the legal status of Palestine under international law. Moreover, the book   inquires as to whether the Palestine Liberation Organization is still the representative of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the interim period, and imposes the alternative question of whether the Palestinian Authority has an international legal status.

This book also summarizes the development of the Palestinian issue at the United Nations. It concludes that the scope and content of the legitimate rights and just conditions for the Palestinian people are not determined by international law, but are rather determined by Israeli and the United States’ politics. In this context, the book provides the Israeli interpretation of Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 as a point of inquiry.

Lastly, the book examines the British Mandate of Palestine, and whether it affected the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination under international law. Furthermore, the book analyzes whether the British Mandate of Palestine was the legal source of the right to self-determination of the Jewish people and the Palestinian people in Mandatatory Palestine.

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