{"id":114159,"date":"2018-07-09T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=114159"},"modified":"2018-07-06T18:45:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T17:45:34","slug":"the-law-is-what-keeps-the-edifice-of-occupation-from-crashing-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/07\/the-law-is-what-keeps-the-edifice-of-occupation-from-crashing-down\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Law Is What Keeps the Edifice of Occupation from Crashing Down’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights<\/em><\/strong>, by Michael Sfard, Metropolitan Books, 2018, 528 pages.<\/strong><\/p>\n

22 Jun 2018 – Michael Sfard has spent the past two decades fighting the occupation\u00a0in Israeli courts. His new book dissects the moral dilemmas of engaging with the occupation\u2019s legal system, its role in making the status quo sustainable, and why, despite it all, he remains optimistic that Israel\u2019s military rule over the Palestinians\u00a0will end.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

File photo of attorney Michael Sfard in his Tel Aviv law office.
(Photo: Matt Surrusco)<\/p><\/div>\n

Michael Sfard is one of the preeminent human rights lawyers in Israel today, where for the past two decades, he has\u00a0confronted\u00a0the occupation\u00a0on its own turf: in Israel\u2019s legal system. Success is never guaranteed, and the playing\u00a0field is anything but level, but Sfard and his colleagues have scored some important victories \u2014 among the best known in the West Bank village of Bil\u2019in<\/a>, where\u00a0they\u00a0were able to get back hundreds of acres of the village\u2019s agricultural land which had been effectively annexed to Israel by the separation wall.<\/p>\n

Born in Jerusalem, Sfard represents a range of Israeli human rights and peace organizations. Most of his work\u00a0focuses on the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories.<\/p>\n

Recently, Sfard published a new book, \u201cThe Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine and the Legal Battle for Human Rights.\u201d The book is a history of the legal struggle against the occupation, covers a broad range of Israeli practices vis-a-vis the Palestinians, and how those practices were fought in the Israeli courts: from the expulsion of Palestinian leaders without due process, to torture and the state\u2019s legal maneuvers to cover it up, through targeted assassinations and, of course, one of Sfard\u2019s specialties \u2013 the appropriation of Palestinian land so that Israeli settlements can be built and expanded.<\/p>\n

The underlying\u00a0theme of the book is inner struggle, which you often hear about from anti-occupation activists, particularly those involved in the legal arena: are we doing any good, or are we actually streamlining the occupation, working out the kinks, making it more palatable? I sat down with Sfard last week to discuss those moral dilemmas, and to hear why despite it all, how remains so stubbornly optimistic.<\/p>\n

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Sfard\u2019s book, \u2018The Wall and the Gate.\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n

What made you write this book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The book was born on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway during\u00a0the hundreds of trips back from the High Court of Justice. It was conceived due to my uncertainty about whether\u00a0the work\u00a0I was doing was contributing to the cause of human rights, or damaging it.<\/p>\n

These dilemmas, which all legal\u00a0activists against the Israeli occupation face, are part of the struggle against any evil regime \u2014 any regime\u00a0that inherently violates human rights. Do you cooperate with the system? Do you engage with it? Do you appear before the courts of the occupier? What price do you pay for such activity?<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t solve these dilemmas\u00a0on those drives back from the court, even during traffic, and I understood that I would have to dedicate the necessary amount of time to grappling with them. It was clear to me that a serious undertaking would require a deep familiarity with the history of the issues.\u00a0I hope the book, beyond the dilemmas it deals with, is first and foremost a good story.<\/p>\n

How would you define the role\u00a0of the\u00a0legal establishment in forming the occupation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The occupation is built on three cornerstones: the gun, the settlement, and the law. The law is what props up\u00a0the edifice of occupation and prevents it from crashing down. It allows it to\u00a0confront\u00a0problems\u00a0that would weaken it, and to a certain degree it prevents it from going mad.<\/p>\n

Define \u2018mad.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

It prevents the occupation from reaching\u00a0a state where all of the Israelis who oppose it would have no choice but to\u00a0go out\u00a0to the streets in protest. Paradoxically, it is able to\u00a0achieve that by providing some<\/em> protection to the occupied \u2013 protections which, over the years,\u00a0are getting weaker and weaker.<\/p>\n

What is the\u00a0role of human rights organizations in defining the\u00a0role the law plays in the occupation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Human rights lawyers began challenging the occupation fairly quickly after it began. The DNA of\u00a0Israel\u2019s military government in the occupied territories, as designed by Meir Shamgar [Military Advocate General in 1967, and later Supreme Court justice\u00a0and president of the court \u2013 YZG] was completely backed by legal norms. He considered the rule of law to be supreme and created a system intended to prevent claims about arbitrary behavior.<\/p>\n

That\u00a0these are the cornerstones of military rule practically begs the lawyers who represent those governed to engage.\u00a0But\u00a0had the court never provided\u00a0judicial relief in the first place, no one would approach it. Relief, not necessarily a ruling, is the oxygen necessary for the process. This process\u00a0got a\u00a0major boost with the appearance of human rights organizations in the 1980s,\u00a0after\u00a0which\u00a0Palestinian appellants\u00a0no longer\u00a0needed to worry about paying for legal representation.\u00a0They had nothing to lose.<\/p>\n

The main dilemma appears in the name of your book, The Wall and the Gate<\/em>. On one hand, the goal of the struggle against the occupation is to bring down the wall, but this can run counter to the wishes of the appellant, who says \u201clook, taking down the wall will take years, and in the meantime I have no access to my land. Can you work toward getting me a gate in the wall\u00a0that will allow me access to my land?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Litigation for social change, unlike private litigation, has several goals. The first goal is\u00a0ensuring the client is given judicial\u00a0relief. The second goal is policy change: we want to make sure that the rights of not only our clients, but also of others who are in his\/her position, are\u00a0not harmed. Above all these, there is another goal: the struggle for regime change. We want to\u00a0help\u00a0end the occupation. When\u00a0you understand we are operating in\u00a0these three\u00a0realms, that we are facing a three-variable equation, you also realize they usually align in the same direction. Legal remedy helps\u00a0change\u00a0policy, while also shortening the lifespan of the occupation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A Palestinian youth opens a gate in the Israeli wall, during a protest marking 12 years for the struggle against the wall and the occupation in the West Bank village of Bil\u2019in, February 17, 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

The problem\u00a0arises when\u00a0they\u00a0collide \u2014 and\u00a0that happens.<\/p>\n

For instance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Imagine\u00a0we have a client whose land has been taken over by settlers. One day he comes to you and says: \u201cLook, this case will take years. I don\u2019t believe we will win. And even if we do win, I don\u2019t believe they will implement the decision. At any rate, they won\u2019t allow me back on my land. This is the only property I have. This is the future of my children. I was offered a lot of money for it. Please write a contract for me; make sure I\u2019m protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine a resident of\u00a0East Jerusalem\u00a0telling you: \u201cI want better life for my people, I want freedom and self-rule for the Palestinians, but this isn\u2019t on the horizon. As it is, my status as a resident [East Jerusalem Palestinians, though they hold Israeli IDs, are often not Israeli citizens, but rather residents \u2013 YZG] limits me and my children. If one of my children goes away to study for seven years, he will lose his residency rights. Please help me obtain Israeli citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Say you\u2019re working on a petition demanding policy change, and your estimate is that you\u2019ll succeed \u2014 that a damaging policy\u00a0that also<\/em> causes the occupation major PR damage will change. You also know that this verdict will be one of the few\u00a0that are simultaneously published in Hebrew and English, and that it will\u00a0subdue those who are already itching to go to the streets. Or perhaps\u00a0you presume that the process will lead to a positive policy change and may prevent damage to many individuals,\u00a0while at the same time prolonging the occupation\u2019s shelf life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sfard. \u2018I do not sacrifice the individual on the altar of a general good. The humanist ideal, on which I base my code of conduct, is to see the individual first and foremost.<\/p><\/div>\n

My guideline is that I do not sacrifice the individual on the altar of a general good, which by necessity is entirely speculative. The humanist ideal, on which I base my code of conduct as a legal human rights activist, is to see the individual first and foremost.<\/p>\n

And yet, there are things I would absolutely refuse to do. I will not represent a Palestinian who wants to sell his land to settlers. I will not stand in his way. I may help him find a good lawyer, but I won\u2019t do it. This, to me, is theft.\u00a0This isn\u2019t a situation of a sale between equal two sides acting of their own free will.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re surprisingly optimistic. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My fundamental belief is that such a regime is unstable and cannot remain in our world indefinitely by definition. The question is how<\/em> it will end. My optimism is not just faith: it is a rational analysis of the possible and likely scenarios. And in this sense I think there are quite a few scenarios\u00a0that\u00a0will lead to a significant change.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Israeli soldiers check the ID\u2019s of Palestinian boys in the Old City of Hebron, West Bank, May 23, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun\/Flash90)<\/p><\/div>\n

Naturally, if we base our analysis on the news, then we have no reason to be optimistic. But if we look at reality not as a still image but as a process, then I think the feeling that the occupation is\u00a0permanent is unfounded.<\/p>\n

I want to challenge your optimism. The Israeli occupation is working on monitoring the movement of all Palestinians at all times. They are working on monitoring thoughts even before you have them. We were all raised on the idea that\u00a0freedom will always prevail. What happens when the new dystopian technology allows a technologically-superior force to maintain an occupation forever?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tools of control are getting more elaborate. But I never believed the gun\u00a0or\u00a0technology will bring down the occupation. There is another factor:\u00a0our\u00a0societal strength to maintain [or end] it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll give you two examples, both of which are the result of the Amona verdict. The first is the\u00a0\u201cFormalization\u00a0Law\u201d and the other is UN Security Council Resolution 2334<\/a>. I see them as proof that the ground is shaking, that it is unstable. A government\u00a0that is forced to enact the\u00a0Formalization Law is one\u00a0that suffered its worst defeat since 1967.<\/p>\n

Look at the\u00a0tremendous energy dedicated to\u00a0silencing the\u00a0voices of civil society acting against the government. I see that as strong proof that someone is willing to pay for the occupation at the expense of Israel\u2019s image as a democracy. If the prime minister and the people around him are willing to sacrifice more of this image in order to prevent B\u2019Tselem and Breaking the Silence<\/a> from expressing their views, then they realize that\u00a0Israel\u2019s greatest national project is a monster\u00a0that must be constantly fed. This pressure on Israeli society \u2013 I don\u2019t know how<\/em> it will burst, but it will.<\/p>\n

Your book is intended for Western and Israeli readers. How do you convey these points to your Palestinian clients? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me tell you a story. One of my greatest victories was in Bi\u2019lin<\/a>. When I went to Bil\u2019in on the day of our\u00a0victory, the celebrations were insane. You could think the occupation had ended and that Palestine\u00a0won its\u00a0independence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The villagers of Bil\u2019in celebrate after the Israeli authorities moved the separation wall, returning hundreds of acres of Palestinian land to their owners, July 1, 2011.
(Anne Paq\/Activestills.org)<\/p><\/div>\n

A\u00a0cold look at the facts will tell you that the fence took away\u00a0500 acres of Bil\u2019in\u2019s land, and that the victory\u00a0returned\u00a0some\u00a0200\u00a0acres. So what were they so happy about? They understood, intuitively, what I needed to write 600 pages in order to understand: Bil\u2019in has become a symbol, and the victory in\u00a0the village was much greater\u00a0than the legal\u00a0redress\u00a0they actually got.<\/p>\n

What lessons can an English reader should\u00a0learn from your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The occupation is not an internal Israeli issue. That the enslavement of millions of people is not simply Israel\u2019s problem, but that of the international community. It should be a lesson\u00a0to the Jewish reader, since Israel claims to speak for the entire Jewish people, and for the American reader \u2014 since there is no greater enabler of the occupation than the U.S.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________<\/p>\n

+972 Magazine is a blog-based web magazine that is jointly owned by a group of journalists, bloggers and photographers whose goal is to provide fresh, original, on-the-ground reporting and analysis of events in Israel and Palestine. Our collective is\u00a0committed\u00a0to human rights and freedom of information, and we oppose the occupation. However, <\/em>+972 Magazine does not represent any organization, political party or specific agenda. We see <\/em>+972 as a platform for our bloggers to share analysis, reports, ideas, images and videos on their channels. Each blogger owns his or her channel and has full rights over its contents (unless otherwise stated). The bloggers alone are responsible for the content posted on their channels; the positions expressed on individual blogs reflect those of their authors, and not <\/em>+972 as a whole.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 972mag.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights, by Michael Sfard, Metropolitan Books, 2018, 528 pages. His new book dissects the moral dilemmas of engaging with the occupation\u2019s legal system and its role in making the status quo sustainable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":114161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}