Frequently Asked Questions:
These are some answers for your FAQs.
01
A: What is the background and history of Legal Resistance?
A: Since 1989, following the intifada of 1987, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip have been required to obtain magnetic cards and individual permits to enter Israel. The Israeli civil administration in the occupied territories was subsequently put in charge of issuing permits. More fundamentally, after the Oslo accords an underlying principle - both political and psychological - of separation and segregation of populations was applied in Israel-Palestine. Fewer Palestinians entered Israel from the OPT in accordance with Israeli leaders' wishes to prevent a 'demographic spillover' and a 'gradual return' to Israel. Contact between Palestinians and Israelis was increasingly limited as the former became further enclosed behind walls and de facto ghettos (Bantustans). Since then, this situation has only worsened as occupation and apartheid became further consolidated.
We are a group of activists, volunteers, and lawyers who for several years now have been trying to resist these practices by working on various fronts and with different NGOS and civil society organizations in Israel-Palestine. In order to move the struggle forward, we decided to develop a new model of practical co-resistance by legal means.
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02
Q: Why do you need Israeli Lawyers in your organization?
Because of the apartheid system, most Palestinian lawyers are not allowed to litigate in Israeli civil courts. This has the effect of forcing Palestinians to rely on Israeli lawyers and NGOs. Our project breaks this dependency by allowing Palestinians to directly challenge the secret service and its purported legitimacy. We do this in the Israeli civil court system, the main setting in which such claims against the secret service actually force them to retract their preventions and renew the permits.
03
Q: What is Normalization?
A: Normalization means cooperating with entities or institutions that are complicit in Israeli apartheid. We believe that doing so constitutes a tacit acceptance of a false symmetry between occupier and occupied which only hinders the struggle for Palestinian rights. That being said, because normalization is a complex and important issue unto itself, we do not pretend to have all the answers to every question involving normalization issues as they often must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Others, such as PACBI and the BNC, have developed guidelines regarding how to work in Israel-Palestine without normalizing apartheid.
04
Q: If you work with the Israeli legal system, don't you support normalization?
A: We strongly object to normalization. Our project seeks to offer a new model of working against Israeli apartheid by actively resisting it through legal means. Fierce legal battles are in fact one of the strongest tools that allow Palestinians to reclaim their rights throughout their land, such as freedom of employment and freedom of movement. To act in solidarity with Palestinians who are denied these rights means that it is necessary to advocate for them in all possible arenas, including the Israeli legal system whose legitimacy we reject. Thus, we do not believe that this constitutes normalization.
05
Q: Isn't facilitating Palestinian labor in Israel problematic?
Unfortunately, due to the difficult economic conditions under which Palestinians live as a result of the occupation, other employment options are not always open for them. Denying Palestinians work permits can be seen as a mechanism of expulsion and ethnic cleansing. For example, in some cases Palestinians from rural areas who lose their work permits are forced to move to cities and refugee camps, allowing settlers to further colonize their lands. By contrast, being employed raises their chances of remaining in their homes and lands.
In addition, the prevention of Palestinian workers from entering Israel was one of the main reasons for the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers to Israel, mainly from Africa and Asia, in order to satisfy the needs of Israel's construction and agriculture industries. Consequently, today Palestinian labor is easily replaceable and employment opportunities scarcer than before the advent of the permit regime in the '90s.
06
Q: What is your stance on the Israeli legal system?
A: We reject the legitimacy of the Israeli court system. However, in practice we must appeal to Israeli judicial institutions in order to engage in a legal battle against the Israeli authorities, such as the Israeli Secret Service and Police, with the aim of protecting Palestinian human rights and resisting oppression through legal means.
07
Q: Which Palestinian party do you support?
A: We are not affiliated with any specific party. We do support the joint non-violent popular struggle as well as the Palestinian call for Boycott Divestment Sanctions.
