The Israel Legal System and its Effects on Marriage

The Israeli legal system organizes their courts into a system of general and specialized courts.[1] Included in specialized courts, which are granted limited jurisdiction, are their religious courts.[2] Israel is unique in its use of religious courts; they existed when the territory was still under Ottoman control through the 16th and 20th centuries and their … Read more

Critical Analysis: Gaza Conflict, Palestine, and the ICC

After a cease-fire ended the fifty day war between Gaza and Israel, Palestine wants to bring charges against Israeli individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, Palestine has an important decision to make: become a state to the Rome Statute, which grants the ICC jurisdiction, or remain a non-member observer state and submit … Read more

Critical Analysis: United Nations Vote on Palestinian Statehood

On November 29, 2012, the U.N. General Assembly voted on Palestine’s bid to elevate its status within the U.N.  The resolution was to elevate Palestine’s status from a non-member observer entity to a non-member observer state, which is the same category as Vatican City.  The vote was not a close one.  The 193-member body voted … Read more

Critical Analysis: Cease-Fire Stops Fight Over Gaza: Is This The End?

  On November 22, 2012, after eight days of fighting, the Palestine militant group, Hamas, and Israel called a cease-fire. The violence resulted in over 160 Palestinians and six Israelis dead, while many more were injured. Israel’s casualties were less extensive thanks in large part to its Iron Dome defense system, which was able to … Read more

The Pink Elephant in the Room

The pink elephant in the room

What makes a Palestinian intifada different from other Arab revolutions?  David Aronofsky, University of Montana General Counsel and adjunct faculty member in the Schools of Law and Education, asked this very provocative question during this year’s Sutton Colloquium. The Colloquium, which hosted a diverse group of panelists from around the country, came to a rather … Read more

Israeli and Palestinian Women Commit Civil Disobedience

Mediterranean Sea in Israel

The New York Times recently published an article about a cohort of seemingly unlikely co-conspirators committing civil disobedience in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. A group of Israeli women smuggled a group of Palestinian women and girls from the southern part of the West Bank, through the Israeli barriers, across Israel to Jaffa, an urban … Read more