While
some Palestinians look at their history and despair of ever achieving
anything through the support of the international community or the
United Nations, others see winning the support of the international
community as the only way forward. With international law on their side,
many Palestinian NGOs take international advocacy as one of their
primary strategies.
One
way of doing this is to focus on specific aspects of the occupation that
are blatantly illegal according to standard human rights law, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR), or the Geneva
Conventions. For example, campaigners can focus on the Israeli refusal
of access by medical personnel to the wounded or the use of human
shields. Appealing to such basic standards of human rights is used to
show the true face of occupation to the international community. By
focusing on basic standards of human rights that are believed to be
uncontroversial, Palestinian NGOs hope to gain widespread support.
Other
Palestinian NGO advocacy groups take a line, which although still
appealing to international law, faces a stronger battle in the world’s
media. A prime example is the case of the right of return of Palestinian
refugees, clearly enshrined in international law. For these groups, it
is not enough simply to campaign on the symptoms of occupation by
appealing to the Geneva Conventions; instead, one must use international
law to help reach a lasting and just solution. However, these activists
face a harder time publicizing their case and achieving success at UN
and international levels.
Click
here
to view a photo gallery on international legal advocacy. |
|
The
approach of international advocacy, of course, has its critiques within
Palestinian society. Palestinians are all too familiar with the numerous
UN resolutions which assert their right to land and to return, yet in
nearly 60 years they see their situation no closer to a resolution. In
campaigning to the international community, Palestinian lobbyists also
have to convince the Palestinian community as to the potential value of
such a strategy.
Selected
websites of Palestinian groups lobbying the international system:
