Thread by @BrunoJantti

A🧵on #Israel #Palestine #Hamas #law.

Israel-Palestine is among the focuses of my peer-reviewed articles in my doctoral dissertation @helsinkiuni @SocSciHelsinki. I have worked extensively in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and studied the conflict for well

over two decades. Currently, echo chambers and bubbles are on full display in social media, recreating the familiar spectacle of slogans, racism, propagandistic terminology, misinformation, disinformation, lies, and silliness.

Let's consider some critical aspects of the context in Israel-Palestine. I will formulate questions and pose answers to the best of my ability.

Q: What is "the context" for what is happening?

A: As Hamas has launched a military escalation, the general public outside Israel-Palestine is seeking information on the political, legal, and historical context of the Israel-Palestine conflict. While there's a lot we can

discover and state about the context, in any real-world situation involving more than one society and a large number of political forces, there's no exhaustive description of the relevant factors, causal relationships, and motives expressible in a couple of sentences, something

we can comfortably refer to as "the context" and be done with it. We can, however, define a framework in which we seek knowledge and which guides us towards short- and long-term political goals. In this thread, I propose a framework comprised of democracy, human rights, and

international law, including international criminal law, a subset of international law.

Q: Is Hamas committing war crimes?

A: Taking hostages and intentional attacks against civilians are, as per the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), war crimes. Hamas has,

hence, begun its escalation by commissioning several war crimes. All attacks by Hamas in previous years and decades that meet these definitions constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute.

Q: Is Israel committing war crimes?

A: 1) Israel's occupation regime in the OPT,

including the forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians, sweeping restrictions on Palestinian movement, denying Palestinians of residency and nationality, and the deprivation of political and civil rights, constitute "inhuman[e] acts" set out under the Rome Statute and

the Apartheid Convention. The Rome Statute and the Apartheid Convention define inhumane policies carried out as part of intentional oppression with the intent to maintain domination by one group over another as the crime against humanity of apartheid.

2) When discriminatory

intent results in flagrant violations of fundamental rights, it meets the definition of the crime against humanity of persecution under customary international law and the Rome Statute.

3) Israeli settlements breach the absolute prohibition against settler implantation in

the 1998 Rome Statute. As per the Rome Statute, "the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" is defined as a war crime. The Israeli settlements, all constructed and existing permanently in

the OPT, beyond Israel's internationally recognized borders, constitute a war crime. Moreover, the Rome Statute defines "deportation or forcible transfer of population," "torture," and "enforced disappearance of persons" as war crimes. Israel has committed all said crimes.

Q: Outside of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by the Israeli army in its military onslaughts, what are some of the crimes Israel has been engaging in permanently, without cessation, decade after decade, and that Israel continues to commit?

A: The crime against

humanity of persecution; the crime against humanity of apartheid; violation of the absolute prohibition of settler implantation, i.e., Rome Statute Art. 8(2)(b)(viii); torture; deportation or forcible transfer of population.

Q: Besides the status quo crimes, what are some of the

crimes committed by Israel?

A: Israel has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians during its occupation and in specific military onslaughts in the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli attacks directed against Palestinian civilians constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Q: Do Palestinians have the right to self-determination?

A: International law mandates that the right of the Palestinians to self-determination is respected and enforced. The world community, including the EU, has shared the goal of the realization of Palestinian

self-determination for several decades. At the UN, the Palestinians' right to self-determination is supported by the entire world, except for Israel and a few of Israel's allies, including such key players in international affairs as Nauru, Micronesia, and Tuvalu.

The right of the Palestinians to self-determination has been categorically denied and prevented by Israel. International law and the international community unequivocally underscore that this right exists and must be enforced. The International Court of Justice states on the wall

Israel has built in the OPT that the "construction of the wall severely impedes the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination and is therefore a breach of Israel's obligation to respect that right" (ICJ 2004, 5).

Q: What is the official EU position on Palestinian self-determination?

A: Already before the turn of the millennium, the EU emphasized that the Palestinians' "right to self-determination" is "continuing and unqualified" (Berlin Declaration 1999). The official EU position is that

the EU "looks forward to the early fulfillment of this right"; the EU seeks a solution to the conflict "without prejudice to this right, which is not subject to any veto." The official EU position has remained unchanged and consistent for decades.

Q: Did Israel acknowledge in 1967 that the settlement enterprise would constitute a crime?

A: Israel conquered what then became the OPT in June 1967. Soon thereafter, the Prime Minister's Office requested Theodor Meron, a legal adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

to determine the legal status of Israeli civilian settlement in the OPT. In Sep of 1967, Meron submitted his response. Meron's conclusion? "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Q: Does Israel recognize the principle of the right of the Palestinians to self-determination?

A: The denial of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination has been codified into Israeli law. In 2018, the Israeli parliament passed the Nation State Law that states

that "the actualization of the right of national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people," meaning the Palestinians do not have any such right, as per Israeli legislation, even in principle.

Q: Is Israel the only country in the world with this position?

A: Yes.

Q: Does Israel recognize the existence of the Palestinians as a people?

A: The denial of the existence of Palestinians as a national entity is a position that has been expressed in various forms by

representatives of several Israeli governments and government members for decades. This interpretation is also part of the current Israeli government. The Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich argued in 2023: "is there a Palestinian history or culture? There is none."

The finance minister then asserted that "there is no such thing as a Palestinian people." For Israel, this is a useful position: how could and why should the Palestinians exercise or be entitled to self-determination if there is no Palestinian people? For the most part, the

segments of the Israeli Jewish political parties and citizens who recognize the existence of the Palestinian people do not grant the Palestinians civil or political rights or the right to self-determination.

Q: What is key to solving the conflict?

A: Realizing the right of the Palestinians to self-determination is key to resolving the conflict. This right can be realized through several arrangements. Israel is strongly opposed to all of them.

Q: Can Hamas resolve the conflict?

A: The platform, ideology, and tactics of Hamas do not have the potential or will to bring about a trajectory or situation where the rights of Palestinians and Israeli Jews can be realized.

Q: Palestinian rights could be realized through establishing a democratic state in Israel-Palestine in which all citizens enjoy equal rights. What is the Israeli position on this possibility?

A: The Israeli government and the majority of the Israeli Jewish general public are

opposed to a democratic state in the territory controlled by Israel.

Q: How does Israel propose that Palestinian self-determination is realized?

A: Israel rejects the very framing of this question. As per Israeli law, the Palestinians do not have a right to self-determination,

not even in principle.

Q: Are the Israeli occupation and settlement construction a response to Hamas?

A: The belligerent military occupation of the OPT and settlement construction began two decades before Hamas was founded.

Q: What are the motivations and goals of Hamas in its current attacks?

A: Political actors have their own ideological frameworks and short- and long-term goals. While the facts presented in this thread form part of the context for any developments in Israel-Palestine, Hamas

actions cannot be understood without acknowledging the ideology and political goals of Hamas. Hamas is an Islamist insurgent movement whose political program and tactics fundamentally contradict international law. As the Palestinian Authority has become an unwanted presence

and a corrupt, collaborationist institution in Palestinian politics, Hamas has worked hard to be recognized as the primary manifestation of Palestinian resistance. Hamas has not and will not be able to present a consistent political goal or program, nor does it have the means

to achieve its own regressive goals, ambiguous as they are.

Q: What is the role of international law in understanding Israel-Palestine?

A: The law is a package deal. The consistent position is that either international law should be enforced or that it should not be enforced.

The legal perspective as well as the perspective of the international community on Israel-Palestine is that the Palestinians and the Israeli Jews have rights, and the solution must respect and enforce these rights. The Israeli Jews have the right to self-determination;

the Palestinians have the right to self-determination. The Israeli Jews have civil and political rights; the Palestinians have civil and political rights. International criminal law applies to Israel; international criminal law applies to Palestinian armed factions.

Apartheid, persecution, prolonged military occupation, and attacks on civilians are crimes when committed by either party. The international legal system, underdeveloped and lacking the means to enforce the Rome Statute,

calls for the prosecution of individuals who commit crimes as defined in the Rome Statute.