Palestinian Crisis Best Understood Under International Law

John B. Quigley, Presidents' Club Professor of Law

Quigley, John B., "International Law and the Palestinian Refugees," Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, 2005

Steeped in emotion, history and religion, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is often thought of in the context of geopolitics and international negotiation. But in a recent symposium article, an Ohio State University Law professor argues that the conflict is best understood – and poses the greatest chance of ultimate resolution – in the context of international law.

Prof. John B. Quigley argues in a recent edition of the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review that under the established norms of international law, the Palestinian people have been unlawfully displaced and have a right to repatriation that is not able to be negotiated away through the international political process...

...“The displaced Palestinians should not have to lobby for their right of return vis-à-vis Israel or vis-à-vis the Palestinian leadership,” Quigley writes. “The right is guaranteed by human rights norms. Just as a state that tortures is obliged to desist without being cajoled and without negotiation, so a state that refuses to repatriate is obliged to desist, namely, by repatriating.”