JPS “Hidden Gems” and “Greatest Hits”: The Law and Palestine

This essay examines JPS’s fifty-year archive of law-related content from the prism of its contribution to the author’s own thinking (and writing) about the relationship between law and politics in the context of the Palestinian question. Noura Erakat identifies as a “greatest hit” Hanna Dib Nakkara’s “Israeli Land Seizure under Various Defense and Emergency Regulations” (1985) for its meticulous documentation of the Israeli legal regime established to confiscate Palestinian lands. Erakat’s “hidden gem” is “Juridical Characteristics of Palestinian Resistance: An Appraisal in Law,” coauthored by W. T. Jr. and S. V. Mallison. Published in 1973, the article argues for the treatment of captured fedayeen as prisoners of war four years prior to the amendment of the Geneva Convention recognizing national liberation struggles as international conflicts.