New book about Palestine membership in the United Nations

A new book entitled \"Palestine Membership in the United Nations: Legal and Practical Implications\" was published by Cambridge Scholars, UK (473 pages, hardcover, with index and introduction by Richard Falk). The book, edited by Dr. Mutaz Qafisheh, Professor of International Law and Legal Clinic Director in Hebron University, is the outcome of the international conference that took place in Hebron University in April 2012. The book\'s table of contents, contributors, foreword by Richard Falk (5 pages) and introduction by the editor (10 pages) can be found at the following link (the book can be also ordered through the same link): This book aims to bridge the scientific gap that exists with regard to Palestine\'s membership of the UN as a State. As international law cannot operate outside the context of the global political atmosphere, the book focuses on the international legal dimension as well as the political/practical aspects of UN statehood recognition. With chapters written by leading international scholars, this collection is directed to those concerned with the strengthening of international law and the UN. Complex issues of representation and the confusing situation of citizenship, given the multiple residential circumstances in which Palestinians are forced to live, are explored with unsurpassed clarity. This invaluable contribution to the scholarly literature offers an ideal point of departure for understanding the core issues as they exist at this time. In this volume, Dr Qafisheh and eighteen other contributors go beyond the direct implications of Palestinian statehood within the UN to consider the prospects for a resolution of one of the longest conflicts in history. The UN statehood resolution of November 2012 reaffirms the two-State consensus which increasingly seems to be a desert mirage without any prospect of being realized. What self-determination might mean in light of this background, where the two-State solution seems to be nearing the end of its sunset phase, is explored in creative ways throughout the book. The book consists of three parts. Part I presents the framework of Palestine\'s UN membership, its legal and political foundations, its implications for PLO representation, Palestinian refugees and population status, and its impact on concerned parties. Part II focuses on selected issues that arise in relation to Palestine\'s UN membership, including human rights, humanitarian law, international criminal law, prisoners, Jerusalem, water and the accession to the WTO. Part III connects the history with future solutions for Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Principal contributors to the book include Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories; Saeb Erikat, Head of the Palestine Negotiations Office; Guy Goodwin Gill, Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, and a Professor of International Refugee Law, University of Oxford; Winston Nagan, Director of the Institute for Human Rights, Peace and Development, University of Florida; John Quigley, President\'s Club Professor of Law, Ohio State University; Valentin Jeutner, Faculty of Law of the University of Cambridge; David Chavkin, Professor of Law, College of Law, American University, Washington, DC; Uri Davis, Erstwhile Associate Professor, Israel Studies Track, Institute of Area Studies, Al-Quds University; and Said Zeedani, Professor of Philosophy and Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Al-Quds University. Mutaz Qafisheh is a Professor of International Law and Director of the Legal Clinic, Hebron University, Palestine. He holds a Ph.D. in International Law (distinction), Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, a practicing international lawyer, and advises a number of international organizations, including the UN and the PLO. He has formerly worked as Human Rights Officer, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Beirut and Ramallah; Regional Director, Penal Reform International, Middle East and North Africa, Amman; Director, Security Sector Reform, Birzeit University; Director, Legal Education, Palestinian Law Schools, Jerusalem; and Legal Advisor, Palestinian Parliament; Co-Founder, Human Rights Program, Al-Quds-Bard Honors College, Jerusalem and New York. His twenty-five studies include: \'The Ability of the Palestine Secure Adequate Standards of Living: Reform or Failed State Duty,\' Asian Journal of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013); \'The Role of Legal Clinics in Leading Legal Education: A Model from the Middle East,\' Legal Education Review, University of Western Sydney, Australia, 2012; \'Article 1D: Definition of the Term \'Refugee\',\' in A. Zimmermann, ed., The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2011); \'Juvenile Justice System in Palestine: Current Situation and Reform Prospects,\'International Journal for Law, Policy and the Family (Oxford, 2011); International Law Foundations of Palestinian Nationality (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008).