Justice for Some

Law and the Question of Palestine

By: Noura Erakat

Narrated by: Christine Rendel

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Justice in the Question of Palestine is often framed as a question of law. Yet none of the Israel-Palestinian conflict's most vexing challenges have been resolved by judicial intervention. Occupation law has failed to stem Israel's settlement enterprise. Laws of war have permitted killing and destruction during Israel's military offensives in the Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accord's two-state solution is now a dead letter.

Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the Palestinians'. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable.

Law is politics, and its meaning and application depend on the political intervention of states and people alike. Within the law, change is possible. International law can serve the cause of freedom when it is mobilized in support of a political movement. Presenting the promise and risk of international law, Justice for Some calls for renewed action and attention to the Question of Palestine.

©2019 the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (P)2022 Tantor

A Masterpiece

This book is a master class on its own! Well thought out, organized, and researched! Thanks to the author for helping me understand the world better!

Brilliant

A must read for anyone trying to understand how we got here on Palestine-Israel. Clear language untangles complicated alliances and shifting narratives over the decades; conclusion is one of justice and hope for all. My only wish was to have listened in the authors own voice.

A great book by an amazing Palestinian scholar

One of the best and most informative books I have read on Palestine written by none other than a distinguished brilliant Palestinian heroine. Thank you Dr Noura on behalf of all the Palestinians for this contribution to our people and our cause. Thank you also for helping further and inform the path of justice for people all over the world. We’re proud of you. Free Palestine 🇵🇸

Informative and important work

Walks you through the sad history of the erasure of the Palestinians as a people in the international legal system. Hard to read this without better understanding the plight of the Palestinians and why and how we got here.

Required reading for a necessary chronology

A detailed, thoughtful, and compelling history of the difficult circumstances we find in Palestine and Israel today.

Actual Laws and History Not Apartheid Propaganda

The detailed research in this book is impeccable. The author dispassionately evaluates the state of international law regarding historical Palestine at different points in time from the 1800s to today. Each legal snapshot is wildly different, but arranged together it is easy to see a narrative thread emerging from the sequence of events. Without judgement, the author examines the many “peace deals” that have been foisted upon Palestinians and why each was ultimately rejected in the name of justice and fairness. This book, released the year before the 2023 atrocities committed by Israel against Gaza and the West Bank, highlights exactly the circumstances that would go on to spark violence. I am humbled by this book, and I encourage everyone to be humbled by it, too.

Excellent book bizarrely NOT narrated by the author

This book is extremely well written and the information it provides is invaluable. The writing is tight and factually rich. If you are looking for a book that clearly describes the historical and legal underpinnings of the apartheid state of Israel, you won’t find a better source.

While the reader is clearly capable of reading the words on the page, if this book had been read by the author, Noura Erakat, it would’ve been far, far better. Noura is a powerful, emotive and concise speaker. In her voice, you can clearly hear and feel her knowledge of and compassion for the Palestinian cause and people. It is utterly bewildering why the publisher chose to use a detached, upper crust British voice instead of the author’s clearly-engaged-with-the-subject voice (did they think it would bring gravitas? It doesn’t). Noura’s not even British and Christine Rendel, the reader, is neither Palestinian nor an Arab speaker. Hopefully, this bizarre decision will be rectified in a future release of this book; the sooner the better.

Excellent informative book

One of the best books I have ever read on Palestine. It’s very illuminating and surprisingly entertaining. Dr. Erakat was able to transform dry legal and political arguments and make them easily accessible and understood by all readers. The Palestinians have struggled for recognition and freedom for many decades. This book shows the incredible challenges that Palestinians as a people and as a leadership has faced from the moment the Zionist project reached the shores of Palestine. This is a must read for all interested in deep understanding of our current history most intractable and misunderstood outright war against one people.