Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza / Edition 1

by Lisa Hajjar

Overview

Israel's military court system, a centerpiece of Israel's apparatus of control in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967, has prosecuted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. This authoritative book provides a rare look at an institution that lies both figuratively and literally at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lisa Hajjar has conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of Israelis and Palestinians—including judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, defendants, and translators—about their experiences and practices to explain how this system functions, and how its functioning has affected the conflict. Her lucid, richly detailed, and theoretically sophisticated study highlights the array of problems and debates that characterize Israel's military courts as it asks how the law is deployed to protect and further the interests of the Israeli state and how it has been used to articulate and defend the rights of Palestinians living under occupation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520241947
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	01/31/2005
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	335
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Lisa Hajjar is Associate Professor in the Law and Society Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xi
	Prologue	xv
	Introduction	1
Part 1	Law and Conflict in Israel/Palestine
1	A Political Geography of Law and Conflict	23
2	Legal Discourses and the Conflict in Israel/Palestine	49
Part 2	An Ethnography of the Military Court System
3	Going to Court	79
4	The Face and Arms of Military Justice: Judges and Prosecutors	96
5	The Politics of Language: Translators	132
6	Cause Lawyering and National Conflict: Defense Lawyers	154
7	Political Subjects, Legal Objects: Defendants	185
8	A Suq of Deals: Plea Bargaining	218
	Conclusion: The Second Intifada and the Global "War on Terror"	235
	Epilogue	249
Appendix	The Institutional Structure and Administrative Features of the Military Court System	253
	Notes	259
	Index	301