عربي |  עברית

Events

Law and Human Rights Conference for Arab Law Students

TOP

Adalah hosted this conference with the goal of raising awareness among Arab law students of human rights issues and to provide them with the necessary professional tools in order to motivate them and allow them to examine the legal strategies used for work in this field. The conference was attended by 104 Arab law students from all over Israel. The keynote lecture was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran on the subject of serving the Arab public, and the opening lectures was given on cause lawyering. Activities included three main panel discussions on human rights legal advocacy; integrating human rights language into other fields of law; and the media, the law and human rights with lawyers from human rights. Invited lawyers from human rights organizations, law school clinics as well as journalists participated in the panels. Students attended several workshops focusing on the law, women and social rights; land rights; and criminal law and political prisoners. The conference program also included recreational and cultural breaks, including comedy sketches and films. The conference was financed by the European Union.

Slideshow from the conference
The program in English

Conference on “October 2000: 5 Years” in memory of the October 2000 protests

TOP

In commemoration of the fifth year anniversary of the killings of 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel during the October 2000 protest demonstrations, Adalah, the Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel, and the Committee of the Martyrs’ Families hosted a conference attended by approximately 160 participants. The guest speakers included Mr. Shawqi Khatib, the Chairman of the Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel and Ms. Jameeleh Asleh, a representative of the Committee of the Martyrs’ Families. Panelists included Sheik Ra’ed Salah, Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, MK Jamal Zahalka of the National Democratic Assembly, MK Mohammad Barakeh of the Democratic Front for Peace & Equality and MK ‘Abd al-Malek Dahamshe of the United Arab List, who all spoke on the right to political activism in the wake of the Justice Ministry’s report recommending that no indictments be issued against police / commanders responsible for the October 2000 killings. The conference concluded with a performance of the play “Suhmata.”

 The program in English

Study Day on “The Experience of Legal Representation of Palestinian Political Prisoners”

TOP

The conference, hosted by Adalah in cooperation with the Municipality of Nazareth, was attended by approximately 150 participants. The keynote speaker was Attorney Felicia Langer, who represented Palestinian and Syrian political prisoners from the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Occupied Golan Heights before the Israeli military courts for 22 years from 1967. The study day also included a panel entitled, “Law and Political Prisoners.” The participating panelists were Attorney Lea Tsemel, Mr. Abd Al-Latif Ghaith from Addameer, and Attorney Fuad Sultani.

 The program in English

Keynote Address
 Attorney Felicia Langer, “The Experience of the Past through the Mirror of the Present: Israel and the Human Rights of the Palestinians.”

Conference entitled “Planning, Control and the Law in the Naqab”

TOP

The conference, hosted by Adalah, was attended by over 100 participants. The invited speakers included: Dr. Alexandre (Sandy) Kedar of Haifa University; Nili Baruch of Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights; Hana Hamdan, Adalah’s Urban and Regional Planner; Sarab Abu Rabia-Queder of Ben Gurion University; and Prof. Ismael Abu-Saad of Ben Gurion University. Please click on the following links to read the conference papers:

Panelists
 Dr. Alexandre (Sandy) Kedar, "Land Settlement in the Negev in International Law Perspective"
 Nili Baruch, "Spacial Inequality in the Allocation of Municipal Resources"
 Sarab Abu Rabia-Quedar, "Women, Education and the Policy of Control"
 Prof. Ismael Abu-Saad, "Education as a Tool of Expulsion from the Unrecognized Villages"

Conference entitled “October 2000: A Memory for Protest”

TOP

Adalah, the High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Citizens in Israel, and the Victims' Families Committee held the conference in memory of the 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel killed by security forces during the October 2000 protest demonstrations. The keynote speech was delivered by Peter Madden, Solicitor and head of the legal team which represents the majority of the families of Irish civil rights protestors killed by British forces during the 'Bloody Sunday' events. The discussion panel consisted of Dr. Yoav Peled of Tel Aviv University, Dr. Ahmed Sa'adi of Ben Gurion University and Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal. Over 200 guests attended this highly successful conference. Please click on the following links to read the conference papers:

Introductory Remarks
 Mr. Shawqi Khatib, Chair, High Follow-up Committee
 Dr. Marwan Dwairy, Chair, Board of Directors, Adalah
 Mr. Hassan Asleh, Spokesman, Victims’ Families Committee

Keynote Address
 Mr. Peter Madden, "The Northern Ireland Experience"

Panel: Protest and the Or Commission
 Professor Yoav Peled, "The Or Commission Compared to the US Kerner Commission"
 Dr. Ahmed Sa’adi, "The Concept of Protest and its Representation by the Or Commission"
 Mr. Marwan Dalal, "Comments on the Tense Dialogue Between Truth and Power"

Roundtable on Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples

TOP

Adalah held the round table at its offices in Shafa'amr, in which around 20 staff members of Adalah and other human rights organizations participated. The guest lecturer, Maivan Lam, Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), spoke about the history of the indigenous peoples' rights movement.

Memorial and Release of Adalah's Review 3

TOP

(Shafa'amr, October 2002)

Adalah organized an evening in Shafa'amr to commemorate the 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel killed by security forces during the October 2000 protest demonstrations. On this second anniversary of the demonstrations, Adalah also released Volume 3 of its legal journal, Adalah's Review, entitled "Law and Violence." Speakers at the event included Ghassann Agbaria, Chairperson of Adalah's Board of Directors; Shawqi Khatib, Chairperson of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel; Hassan Asleh, father of one of the victims, Asel Asleh; and Samera Esmeir, an Adalah staff member and an editor of Adalah's Review.

Panel Discussion

TOP

Adalah co-hosted a panel discussion with Assiwar (a Palestinian women's rights NGO in Israel) in Umm El-Fahem. Panelists focused on how law can be used as a tool for social change vis-a-vis the state, as well as on Palestinian women's initiatives to start economic projects within their communities. About 150 women (secular, religious, young and older) as well as a few men from the Triangle attended the event.

Seminar and Tour with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing

TOP

In January 2002, Mr. Miloon Kothari, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, conducted a mission to the Occupied Territories. During his visit and that of Mr. Joseph Schechla of the Habitat International Coalition, Adalah and Professor Oren Yiftachel, Chair of the Geography Department, Ben Gurion University (BGU), invited them to Israel and co-organized a seminar at BGU for them to speak. At the seminar, Mr. Kothari and Mr. Schechla spoke on matters of policy and international human rights organizations' involvement in housing issues. Adalah also accompanied them on a visit to several unrecognized villages in the Naqab, where he also met with the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages.

Memorial and Panel Discussions

TOP

Adalah and the Galilee Society held this memorial event in Shefa'amr to commemorate the 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel killed in October 2000. The memorial consisted of poetry readings, remembrances by family members and friends of the deceased, a musical performance and remarks by Board and staff members of both organizations. Following the service, two panel discussions - "Arab Society in an Emergency Situation - Lessons in Health and Economy" and "The Commission of Inquiry - Evaluation and Strategies for Future Work" - were held with presentations by local political leaders, university lecturers, emergency medical care providers, NGO representatives, and journalists. The event was attended by approximately 100 people.

Future Strategies: The Role of the Palestinian Lawyer in the Field of Human Rights

TOP

Adalah organized this panel discussion to open our annual General Assembly meeting in late May. Over 120 lawyers, municipality officials, journalists, students, and family members of the 13 Palestinian citizens killed during the October 2000 demonstrations attended the meeting. Ghassann Agbaria, Chair of Adalah’s Board, joined by Ramez Jeraisy, Mayor of Nazareth, Shawki Khatib, on behalf of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel, and Dr. Mahmoud Yazbek, a representative of the Committee of the Martyrs’ Families, welcomed the participants. Speakers included Taghrid Jahshon, a women’s rights lawyer; Khader Shkirat, Director of LAW; Riad Anes, a criminal defense lawyer working with Adalah on the Commission of Inquiry; Salim Wakim, a senior lawyer and Board member of the Arab Association for Human Rights; and Hassan Jabareen, General Director of Adalah. Adalah staff attorney Jamil Dakwar moderated the panel. A general discussion was held following the lectures.

Legal Issues Facing Palestinian Citizens of Israel in the Negev

TOP

Adalah organized and held a panel discussion in January 2001 for 110 participants, including 14 Board and staff members, to facilitate its work on legal issues facing Arab Bedouin communities in the Negev. The panel was followed by a discussion in which Arab Bedouin participants presented to Adalah issues of specific concern to their communities. Mr. Ghassann Agbaria, Chair of Adalah’s Board of Directors, welcomed the participants and made introductory remarks. Dr. Riad Egbarieh, Adalah Board member, moderated the panel. Panel participants included: Mr. Jaber Abu-Kaf, Head of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages; Sheikh Juma El-Ksasi, Mayor of Rahat; Prof. Ismail Abu-Said, Department of Education, Ben Gurion University; Dr. Abdul Mouti, Physician and Board member of The Galilee Society; Dr. Amer Hizayle, Head of Strategic Planning Department, Rahat Municipality and a prominent activist with the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages; and Mr. Yousef Jabareen, Ph.D. Candidate, Urban Planning, Technion. Mr. Marwan Dalal, Adalah’s Staff Attorney who focused on issues in the Negev, briefed participants about Adalah’s legal work, including petitions and letters of intervention submitted on behalf of the Arab Bedouin community.

Religious Discourse and Feminism Workshop

TOP

Adalah, in conjunction with the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA), organized a 3-day training workshop for 24 Palestinian activists from Israel to discuss and analyze religious discourse and feminism. Mashriqiyat, a research and advocacy NGO based in Gaza City devoted to promoting women’s rights throughout Palestine, hosted and led the training workshop, which was held on 23-25 June 2000. Ms. Hoda Rouhana, Coordinator of Adalah’s Women and the Religious Courts Project, and Ms. Areen Hawari, Coordinator of HRA’s Women’s Human Rights Program, organized the workshop.

Adalah’s Women and the Religious Courts Project, initiated in September 1999, focuses on promoting and protecting women’s rights in the Arab religious courts. Its aim is to introduce feminist and progressive interpretations of religious laws, and challenge orthodox or traditional practices through educational programs and by conducting research and writing articles for the press and local journals. In the future, the Project will offer legal representation to Palestinian women in the religious courts in Israel on their personal status matters.

The Religious Discourse and Feminism Workshop introduced the participants to legal structures, constitutions, and laws in the Arab world, classical and progressive jurisprudence in Shar’ia and the ways in which these approaches affect women, cultural relativism and feminism, and legislative advocacy projects currently being undertaken by numerous women’s rights organizations throughout the Arab World. The workshop also focused on a recent expert meeting held under the auspices of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which discussed Arab countries’ reservations to the Convention, and ways of reconciling CEDAW and Muslim personal status law.

Mr. Saed Hamid, a legal consultant and board member of Mashriqiyat, led the 3-day training workshop, with presentations also given by Lina Meari, an M.A. student in Bir Zeit University’s Women's Studies Program, and Ms. Rouhana. Ms. Rouhana discussed her research on “Appointing Women as Qadis.” The 24 participants represented Palestinian women’s organizations in Israel, and Adalah and HRA staff. The participants acknowledged a need to continue this type of dialogue, to best develop strategies for personal status issues of Palestinian women before religious courts in Israel.

During their stay in Gaza, the participants also toured Al Shabora, Yubna, Al Shatea, and Al Serat refugee camps, met with the camps’ committees, and saw the Israeli Jewish settlements that divide the cities of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Refugees: A Memory or a Cause

TOP

In June, Adalah hosted this event, which highlighted the rights of the Palestinian refugees, a population now estimated at close to 4 million. The panel discussion was moderated by Adalah Advocate Marwan Dalal and featured Professor Susan Akram, Boston University School of Law/Al Quds University, who discussed the rights of the refugees under international law; Usama Halabi, Advocate, who detailed the Absentee Property Law; Dr. Ilan Pappe, Political Science Professor at Haifa University, who explored the consequences of the War of 1948 and the way in which it is taught to Jewish students; and Wakim Wakim, Advocate, who presented the situation of the internal Palestinian refugees, a population numbering 250,000. A documentary film directed by Mai Masri and entitled "Children of Shatila,” preceded the panel discussion. Over 100 people attended the event.

Women and the Religious Courts

TOP

On 15 January 2000, Adalah and the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) held a two-session workshop at Adalah’s offices in Shafa'amr. Forty people attended the event, which aimed to open a debate about religion and feminism in the Palestinian religious courts. The event discussed whether Islamic religious texts and laws can be compatible with feminism, and whether a progressive, feminist reading of the Hadeeth is possible. The discussions also touched on personal status laws, prospective sources of feminist speech and the difference between the promotion of women’s rights and the destruction of “cultural traits.” Representatives from several coalitions and NGOs dealing with women’s rights issues spoke on the workshop’s panels including Aida Toma-Sulieman from the Personal Status Coalition, Marwa Qasem and Said Hamid from Mashriqiat in Gaza, and Runda Soniora and Halima Abusalub from the Women’s Center for Legal and Social Aid in Jerusalem. Hoda Rouhana, Nasreen Tabari and A’reen Howwari served as the facilitators for the two workshops.

Human Rights and Minorities: Towards the 21st Century

TOP

In November 1999, Adalah, the Heinrich Boll Foundation, and MOSAWA, a Palestinian Arab information center, hosted a conference in Haifa entitled, “Human Rights and Minorities: Towards the 21st Century.” Approximately 50 people attended the event, which addressed ways for German and international organizations and institutions to cooperate in promoting human and minority rights in Israel. The conference was organized around two panel sessions: the legal and political possibilities for defending human rights and the need for international solidarity in protecting minority rights. Claude Weinber, Director of the Israel Office of the Heinrich Boll Foundation and Frank von Auer, Cultural Attache of the German Embassy provided a general introduction to the conference’s themes. Session speakers included Nabila Espanioly, Board Member, MOSAWA, Muhammed Dahleh, Board Chairperson, Adalah, Gerg Pappe, Commissioner for Human Rights, German Foreign Ministry, MK Isam Makhoul, Yosef Jabareen, Advocate, Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Mohammad Zeidan, Coordinator, Arab Association for Human Rights, and Marian Burtler, Former Minister of Education of Bardenburg Province, Germany. Both sessions were moderated by Suhad Bishara, Advocate.

The Palestinian Minority in Israel: Between Integration and Collective Rights

TOP

On October 9th 1999, Adalah hosted a panel discussion entitled “The Palestinian Minority in Israel: Between Integration and Collective Rights” at its offices in Shafa'amr. Speakers at the event included: MK Mohammed Baraka (Jebha/Hadash), MK Dr. Azmi Bishara (Tajamo’ah/Balad), Senior Lecturer Sami Shmooha from the Sociology Department at Haifa University, Sheikh Raed Salah, the Mayor of Umm al Fahm, and Wakim Wakim, Advocate, the Secretary of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the Uprooted Palestinians. Approximately 100 academics, community leaders, students, and others attended the event. All of the speakers agreed that there was an urgent need for the development of democratically elected Arab institutions and bodies. These bodies, according to the speakers, should represent the Arab community vis-a-vis the State, and formulate creative solutions to its unique challenges. In addition, the speakers addressed the question of the power dynamic between the state and the Arab community, discussing how autonomy could develop, and whether it should be demanded by the Arab community or granted by the state. The event was moderated by Marwan Dalal, Advocate, Staff Attorney for Adalah. Hisham Na’fa, journalist, and Hassan Jabareen, General Director of Adalah, served as commentators.

51 Years After the Declaration of Independence

TOP

In January 1999, Adalah and the University of Haifa, Faculty of Law hosted a panel discussion at the University entitled "51 Years After the Declaration of Independence: The Status of Arabs in Israel." Approximately 50 legal academics and law students attended this panel, which addressed the issue of whether "equality" as promised in the Declaration is feasible in Israel, a state that defines itself as a "Jewish state." The speakers discussed the contradiction between individual identity and ethnicity and the Jewish character of the state, as well as the failure of the Declaration to provide for any group other than the Jewish population within Israel. The panel also focused on the future of the Arab national minority in Israel and their relationship with the Jewish state. Dean of the Haifa University Law School, Professor Yossi Edrey, opened the session and speakers included Professor Arnold Sofer, Haifa University Department of Geography, Dr. Azmi Bishara, Member of Knesset, Raef Zreik, Advocate, Board Member of Adalah, and Lecturer Ilan Saban, Haifa University, Faculty of Law. The panel was moderated by Dr. Sandy Kedar, Haifa University, Faculty of Law.