The way forward for Palestine: A call for international protection

As GISR’s Acting Director Sultan Barakat sees it, there’s only one way to bring stability to the Middle East and renew faith in the rules-based international order: end the occupation of Palestine. To achieve this, the international community must also take steps to ensure the safety of the Palestinian people.

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Author

Dr. Sultan Barakat

Professor

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2024-01-26 06:00:14

International Court of Justice Order of 26 January 2024 for Provisional Measures in South Africa V Israel

As a signatory, Israel is already bound by the 1948 Genocide Convention. The question is whether their actions currently constitute Genocide. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Order for Provisional Measures makes clear that Israel must abide by the Convention and specifically calls on Israel to ensure it does not commit killing, serious bodily or mental harm, imposition of life conditions to bring about physical destruction or imposing of measures to prevent births with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The ICJ Order provides yet another leverage point for highlighting the human toll of the Gaza violence. It is a direct outcome of the failure of the UN system, especially the UN Security Council, to respond to the aggression in Gaza. However, in the absence of practical outcomes resulting from the ICJ Order, the Gaza conflict will continue to undermine trust in the international system. Without the political will to halt arms shipments, recognise Palestinian statehood and human rights, an increase in regional instability with potentially apocalyptic outcomes remains.

2023-09-28 13:32:56

Rethinking State Fragility

The label and language of state fragility has become a prominent feature of contemporary international development assistance and multilateral interventions. This paper will provide an overview of the different elements that have gone into the concept of fragility, its meaning, use, and measurement. There are three key points for reflection on the future use of a fragility framework for policy-making and programming: it should be nuanced, context-specific, and not overgeneralized.

2023-09-28 13:31:26

From Shaking Hands to Sustaining Peace

While peace agreements are frequently symbolized by handshakes, their implementation and the broader goal of sustaining peace present formidable challenges. Despite the extensive efforts and substantial time invested in negotiations, violence often persists, and peace agreements routinely struggle to be put into action. In these contexts, sustaining peace can seem remote and, at times, insurmountable. This White Paper, associated with this summary by the Global Institute for Strategic Research (GISR) in Qatar, critically examines the reasons why peace agreements falter and explores the role of design, capacity, and political will. It highlights the importance of understanding the wider environments that characterize and shape peace processes and reflects on implementation mechanisms and wider cross- cutting issue areas, where promising practices are evolving to address the shifting landscapes of peace agreement implementation, its aftermath and sustainability.