P F Tinmore
Diamond Member
- Dec 6, 2009
- 79,796
- 4,414
- 1,815
- Thread starter
- #14,641
Palestinians have a legal right to armed struggle
Long ago, it was settled that resistance and even armed struggle against
a colonial occupation force is not just recognised under international
law but specifically endorsed.
In accordance with international humanitarian law, wars of national
liberation have been expressly embraced, through the adoption of
Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (pdf
<https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume 1125/volume-1125-i-17512-english.pdf>), as a protected and essential right of occupied people everywhere.
Finding evolving vitality in humanitarian law, for decades the General
Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) - once described as the collective conscience of the world - has noted the right of peoples to
self-determination, independence and human rights.
Indeed, as early as 1974, resolution 3314 of the UNGAprohibited
<United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX)> states from "any
military occupation, however temporary".
In relevant part, the resolution not only went on to affirm the right
"to self-determination, freedom and independence [...] of peoples
forcibly deprived of that right,[...] particularly peoples under
colonial and racist regimes or other forms of alien domination" but
noted the right of the occupied to "struggle ... and to seek and receive
support" in that effort.
The term "armed struggle" was implied without precise definition in that
resolution and many other early ones that upheld the right of indigenous
persons to evict an occupier.
This imprecision was to change on December 3, 1982. At that time UNGA resolution 37/43
<http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r043.htm>removed any doubt or debate over the lawful entitlement of occupied people to resist
occupying forces by any and all lawful means. The resolution reaffirmed
"the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial
integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign
domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including
armed struggle".
[News] Palestinians have a legal right to armed struggle
Long ago, it was settled that resistance and even armed struggle against
a colonial occupation force is not just recognised under international
law but specifically endorsed.
In accordance with international humanitarian law, wars of national
liberation have been expressly embraced, through the adoption of
Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (pdf
<https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume 1125/volume-1125-i-17512-english.pdf>), as a protected and essential right of occupied people everywhere.
Finding evolving vitality in humanitarian law, for decades the General
Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) - once described as the collective conscience of the world - has noted the right of peoples to
self-determination, independence and human rights.
Indeed, as early as 1974, resolution 3314 of the UNGAprohibited
<United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX)> states from "any
military occupation, however temporary".
In relevant part, the resolution not only went on to affirm the right
"to self-determination, freedom and independence [...] of peoples
forcibly deprived of that right,[...] particularly peoples under
colonial and racist regimes or other forms of alien domination" but
noted the right of the occupied to "struggle ... and to seek and receive
support" in that effort.
The term "armed struggle" was implied without precise definition in that
resolution and many other early ones that upheld the right of indigenous
persons to evict an occupier.
This imprecision was to change on December 3, 1982. At that time UNGA resolution 37/43
<http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r043.htm>removed any doubt or debate over the lawful entitlement of occupied people to resist
occupying forces by any and all lawful means. The resolution reaffirmed
"the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial
integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign
domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including
armed struggle".
[News] Palestinians have a legal right to armed struggle