Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, in collaboration with the Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness), held an online panel discussion titled “Annexation and Displacement Plans for the West Bank and Gaza Strip” via Zoom on 19/3/2025. The event featured a group of legal, human rights and political experts.
Prof. Dr. Mohsen Mohammad Saleh, General-Manager of Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, opened the seminar with welcoming remarks, emphasizing the gravity of the current stage. He pointed out that both the US and Israel are pursuing their objectives based on the principle of force, seeking to bypass the entire international legal system.
The panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Mahmoud al-Hanafi, Managing Director of the Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness), emphasized the importance of legal and political awareness in confronting the dangerous plans that threaten Palestinian existence.
The panel discussion addresses the ongoing Israeli escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories, where Israel is seeking to impose new realities aimed at tightening control over the West Bank (WB) through settlement legislation. Simultaneously, US efforts to reshape the Palestinian demographic landscape by displacing Gazans to Sinai and other locations are unfolding. These developments, coupled with large-scale military operations targeting civilians and infrastructure, raise critical questions about the legal and political implications of these policies and their potential impact on the future of the Palestine issue.
The first paper, presented by Witness Association legal researcher Iman Saba‘ Ayon, was titled “New Israeli Legislations to Promote Annexation and Displacement.” She examined recent Israeli laws designed to facilitate settler expropriation of Palestinian land, the repeal of Jordanian law, efforts to impose Israeli sovereignty over Palestinian archaeological sites, and the renaming of the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria.”
Dr. Anis Kassim, an expert in international law and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Fund for the Defense of Palestinian Prisoners, examined the forced displacement of the population of the Gaza Strip (GS). He traced the origins of this idea to Theodor Herzl and highlighted its intensification during the 1948 Nakbah. Regarding the ongoing war on GS, he noted that displacement efforts have become more aggressive, with 184 expulsion orders issued in just 12 months—an act widely recognized as ethnic cleansing. He further emphasized that international jurisprudence has repeatedly affirmed forced displacement as a form of genocide.
Dr. Mustafa Nasrallah, Head of the National Society for Human Rights, spoke about the Israeli military campaign in WB, highlighting demolitions, forced displacement in the northern region, and Israel’s strategy to depopulate Palestinian areas. He also addressed the legal dimension of these operations under international humanitarian law, explaining that such practices may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Mubarak al-Khalidi, Professor of Constitutional Law and former Dean of the Faculty of Law at An-Najah University, presented the final working paper that outlines legal and political strategies to counter Israeli and US annexation schemes. The paper proposes practical mechanisms, including legal challenges in international courts, the involvement of civil society in documenting violations and exerting political pressure. It also emphasized raising international awareness about the dangers of annexation and displacement to garner global support.
After the working papers, the floor was opened for discussion. Participants made constructive and focused interventions that enriched the conversation and added new perspectives. They stressed the urgent need for immediate action to halt these plans and called for strengthened legal and diplomatic efforts to counter them. Furthermore, they proposed the formation of international legal committees to pursue the crimes of annexation and displacement in international courts.
The panel discussion concluded with several key recommendations:
• Establish an international legal committee to pursue annexation and displacement cases in international criminal courts.
• Enhance efforts within the UN General Assembly to prosecute Israeli war criminals in both international and local courts, while promoting this initiative.
• Urge Arab and Muslim countries to adopt a unified position against the displacement of Palestinians.
• Strengthen global advocacy campaigns to raise awareness of Israeli-US plans.
• Call on the EU to impose sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements.
• Strengthen international community’s support for the enforcement of international law and its provisions, along with the international judicial system, to prevent further colonization and the subjugation of peoples, ensuring global justice and security.
• Develop an interactive online map of settlements that marks their locations, tracks the demolition of Palestinian homes, and highlights other related violations, with continuous updates based on verified reports.
• Enable Palestinians to document daily Israeli violations and submit them to relevant authorities through modern technologies and mobile applications.
• Creating a digital platform to showcase colonized lands and areas from which inhabitants have been displaced, with continuous updates displayed on an interactive map.
• Launching an extensive educational campaign on international law related to the Palestine issue, targeting centers, universities, and institutions… especially in the Arab and Muslim world.
• Establishing legal committees and frameworks across continents to advocate for the enforcement of legal provisions and international resolutions addressing Israeli violations through both international and local courts.
• Forming international voluntary organizations focused on holding Israel accountable for its crimes and violations of human rights.
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