[Peace-discuss] Review of Francis Boyle's book

[David Green]

Book Review:


Palestine, Palestinians, and International Law
By Francis A. Boyle,
Clarity Press., Inc., 2003, 205 pp.
List: $14.95; AET: $12.50.


Reviewed by Michael Gillespie

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/April_2004/0404088.html


Most observers know very well that European Zionists
displaced and
dispossessed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in
1948 and again in
1967, creating the world's largest, most problematic,
and longest 
running
refugee crisis. Many understand as well that Israel's
continuing 
illegal
occupation of Palestinian lands and its brutal
oppression of the 
Palestinian
people is aided and abetted by the U.S. government.
Few, however, have 
a
comprehensive understanding of the relationship of
Palestine and Israel 
in
international law. Even among those who consider
themselves 
knowledgeable
about the Palestinian cause, questions about the legal
status of 
Palestine
and Palestinians abound.


In a compelling new work, Palestine, Palestinians, and
International 
Law,
renowned international jurist, author, and human
rights champion 
Francis A.
Boyle provides a comprehensive history of the legal
wrangling over 
Palestine
and Palestinian rights while setting out bold new
legal strategies for
ending Israeli violations of international legal and
humanitarian 
standards.


Boyle's book arrives at a critical moment. As the
extremist right-wing
regime of Ariel Sharon tightens its grip, few are able
to predict with 
any
confidence the future of the heroic Palestinian
struggle for liberty,
justice, and national sovereignty. Boyle clarifies the
confusing legal
complexity of the crisis in Palestine, proposes
creative new approaches 
to
Israeli intransigence and deceit, and argues
persuasively for the
preservation of the established norms of international
law at a time 
when
the rule of law itself is seriously threatened.


A professor of international law at the University of
Illinois, 
Champaign,
Boyle is a seasoned participant in the Palestinian
struggle-as legal 
adviser
first to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
on the 
Palestinian
Declaration of Independence beginning in 1987, and
later, from 1991 to 
1993,
to the Palestinian Delegation of the Middle East peace
negotiations.
Palestine, Palestinians, and International Law is not
written 
exclusively
for the edification of legal scholars, however. A
master of the history 
of
international mandates, protocols, conventions, and
resolutions that 
address
directly or are relevant to Palestinian aspirations
and rights, Boyle
decisively charts a course through the legal labyrinth
with a lucid and
inviting style the layperson will appreciate as much
for its vitality 
as for
its clarity.


One key to Boyle's success is his ability to convey
the intensely 
personal
aspects of a legal drama played out on the world
stage. In an 
introduction
that explains how, as a university student in the late
1960s and 1970s, 
he
first came to appreciate the plight of the Palestinian
people despite 
"The
Big Lie," Boyle candidly recalls events, encounters,
and challenges 
that
have informed his perspective as an advocate for
Palestine and 
Palestinians.
Boyle's reminiscences and trenchant observations will
resonate with
experienced proponents of the Palestinian cause, even
as they inspire 
and
empower a new generation of activists.


"I have been accused of being everything but a child
molester because 
of my
support for the Palestinian people," writes Boyle. "I
have witnessed 
the
violation of every known principle of academic
integrity and 
freedom...in
order that basic fundamental truths in relation to
this longstanding
conflict in the Middle East might be suppressed."


Boyle earned his J.D. (1976, magna cum laude),
master's degree (1978) 
and a
Ph.D. in political science (1983) at Harvard-where he
served as a 
member of
the executive committee of the Harvard Center for
International Affairs 
and
as a teaching fellow in Harvard College. He is candid
in his admiration 
for
principled educators and jurists, as well as in his
criticism of
institutional bias, as evidenced in his comparison of
two nationally
recognized Middle Eastern studies programs: "the
University of Chicago 
has
always had a first rate Center for Middle Eastern
Studies that I have
heartily recommended over the years to many
prospective students....By
comparison, Harvard's center for Middle Eastern
Studies could be viewed 
as
effectively operating as a front organization for the
CIA and probably 
the
Mossad as well."


Citing the fundamental precepts of international human
rights law, 
Boyle
writes, "As is true of any other state in the world
today, the
newly-proclaimed state of Palestine possesses the
inherent right of
individual and collective self-defense recognized by
customary 
international
law and article 51 of the United Nations
Charter....the Palestinian 
people
actually living under this criminal occupation have
the perfect right 
under
international law to resist the Israeli army by the
use of force, just 
as
the French Resistance did against Nazi forces
occupying France during 
the
Second World War."


Boyle reminds his readers that it has been decades
since U.S. policy in 
the
Middle East rested upon the foundation of sound moral
and legal 
principles
necessary to support viable and enduring international
relationships in 
the
region."The American people cannot even begin to
comprehend how to deal 
with
the problem of international terrorism in the Middle
East," he points 
out,
"unless they first come to grips with the fact that
the Reagan/Bush Sr.
administration was directly responsible for the
perpetuation of one of 
the
great international crimes in the post-World War II
era against the
Palestinians and Muslim people in Lebanon....Until
that time, Americans 
will
continue to become targets of attack by these
frustrated and aggrieved
individuals throughout the Middle East and the
Mediterranean."


Boyle's penetrating analyses of the Israeli and
American role in the 
crisis
that has destabilized the Middle East for over 50
years are as cogent 
as his
criticisms are fearless and his warnings prescient. In
a Dec. 1, 1992
Memorandum of Law, Boyle advised the Palestinian
leadership against 
what he
perceived as a fatally flawed interim agreement:
"...because of Israeli
stalling and because of American presidential election
politics," he 
warned,
"there could be a 12-year, 16-year, or even 20-year
interval between 
the
Interim Agreement and the so-called Final Settlement
no matter what the
documents might say about some 'interconnection.'
Indeed, if the 
Israelis
have their way with their supporters in the Democratic
and Republican
parties and in the United States Congress, you will
never see that 
Final
Settlement. The Israelis, with American help, will
simply stall, drag 
out,
and indefinitely postpone and delay a Final Settlement
while they 
continue
to kill your people, steal your  land, and drive the
rest of you out of 
your
homes."


It was Boyle who, in a Nov. 30, 2000 speech at
Illinois State 
University in
Bloomington-Normal, advocated the divestment campaign
against Israel 
that
now is in progress on college and university campuses
across the 
country

(see http://www.divest-from-israel-campaign.org/ ).


Palestine, Palestinians, and International Law
contains the texts of 
several
helpful and inspiring documents, including The Geneva
Declaration on
Terrorism (1987), The Palestinian Declaration of
Independence (1988), 
and
Boyle's own Memorandum of Law known as the Palestinian
Alternative to 
Oslo
(1992). The book also provides relevant sections of
The International
Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the
Crime of Apartheid
(1973). Appendices include a comprehensive
"Bibliography of Genocidal/
Apartheid Acts Inflicted by Israel on the Palestinians
During the Al 
Aqsa
Intifada," as well as Boyle's partial "Bibliography on
the Middle East 
and
International Law," both of which will prove
invaluable to serious 
students
of the crises in Palestine and the Middle East.


Readers and activists alike will benefit from the
information and
inspiration in Francis Boyle's Palestine,
Palestinians, and 
International
Law-a book that scholars, researchers and other truth
seekers will turn 
to
for years to come.


[Michael Gillespie, a free-lance writer based in Ames,
Iowa, is a peace 
and
justice advocate with a keen interest in interfaith
dialogue.]

Book can be ordered at:
http://www.middleeastbooks.com/



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