BY NITSANA DARSHAN, SHURAT HADIN —
While it is still not clear whether the Palestinian Authority (PA) will proceed forward on its stated intention to declare a state unilaterally later this month, it is clear that it seeks to use the United Nations process to open up new pathways to wage lawfare against Israel. This was the focus of a recent panel discussion held in Ramallah at which politicians, activists and legal experts gathered to discuss the legal and political implications of the planned initiatives at the UN.
According to reports from the panel, the plan to issue a unilateral declaration of statehood has transformed into a series of initiatives focused on facilitating the PA’s accession to international conventions and treaties and access to the international criminal court. Panel participants, who included members of the PA committee overseeing the unilateral declaration initiative and their legal advisors, recognized that full UN membership would provide the PA with a limitless potential of legal actions before the UN’s anti-Israel institutions.
Other panel participants noted that law is a field for waging conflict and that the unilateral declaration was a strategic step in escalating lawfare provocations against Israel.
Having only recently suffered a humiliating defeat in their failed attempt to breach the Israeli maritime blockade of Hamas controlled Gaza, extremists from the Free Palestine Movement (FPM) have now returned to the United States to fund raise for yet another planned Gaza Flotilla provocation. In a recent solicitation letter, the FPM announced that it has a new ship, the Nour al-Haqiqa, that can carry 120 passengers and crew.
The letter notes that the vessel is currently berthed in a secure location but that the group has been unsuccessful in finding a country in the Mediterranean that will allow its passengers to go on board to create hostilities against Israel. Once an accomplice country is identified, it is the group’s intention to sail again. The good news is that, according to their solicitation letter, they are broke. Apparently, the FPM’s funds were exhausted during the course of their previous failed voyage.
Thus, the urgent solicitation letter. It should be noted, however, that the acts of organizing, funding, furnishing and participating in such a naval expedition against a people with whom the United States is at peace is a violation of American law. Similarly, providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization is also a violation of U.S. law. In June, both Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center and Texas Governor Rick Perry sent letters to United States Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that the U.S. Justice Department investigate and prosecute the FPM and other offenders of these American laws.
