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7 - Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2010

By
David Kretzmer
Edited by
David Sloss
David Kretzmer
Affiliation:
Bruce W. Wayne Professor Emeritus of International Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Professor of Law, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, and Academic Center of Law and Business, Ramat Gan
David Sloss
Affiliation:
Santa Clara University, School of Law
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Summary

THE STATUS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN THE DOMESTIC LEGAL SYSTEM

Introduction: The Constitutional and Legal System of Israel

It is impossible to discuss the role of international law in the jurisprudence of Israel's courts without some understanding of the country's constitutional and legal system. This introduction will be devoted to a short description of that system.

Israel's Declaration of Independence of 14 May 1948, stated that the new state, established as the state of the Jewish people, would have a formal constitution to be drawn up by an elected constituent assembly. This reflected the demands of the international community, which in UN General Assembly Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine and the establishment there of two states – a Jewish state and an Arab state – had demanded that the states each have a formal constitution that would protect the rights of minorities. It did not, however, reflect a real commitment of the dominant political parties at the time of independence. A constituent assembly was indeed elected, but it transformed itself into the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, and the adoption of a formal constitution was postponed.

Under a Knesset resolution adopted in 1950, the formal constitution was to be drawn up in a piecemeal fashion. A series of Basic Laws were to be adopted, and when these were complete, they would become the country's formal constitution.

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Type
Chapter
Information
The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement
A Comparative Study
 , pp. 273 - 325
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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References

Kretzmer, D., “The New Basic Laws on Human Rights: A Mini-Revolution in Israeli Constitutional Law?” (1996) 14 Neth. Q. Hum. Rts.173CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barak-Erez, Daphna, “From an Unwritten to a Written Constitution: The Israeli Challenge in American Perspective,” 26 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 309 (1995)Google Scholar
Kretzmer, David, “Constitutional Law,” in Shapira, A. and Delwitt-Arar, K.C. (eds.), Introduction to the Law of Israel (The Hague: Kluwer International, 1995), pg. 39Google Scholar
Lapidot, Ruth, “International Law within the Israel Legal System” 24 Isr. L. Rev.451, 453 (1990)Google Scholar
Bar-Yaacov, Nissim, “The Applicability of the Laws of War to Judea and Samaria (The West Bank) and to the Gaza Strip,” 24 Isr. L. Rev. (1990) 485Google Scholar
Dinstein, Y., “Deportations from Occupied Territories” (in Hebrew) 13 Tel Aviv U L Rev (1988) 403Google Scholar
Bar-Yaacov, Nissim, “The Applicability of the Laws of War to Judea and Samaria (The West Bank) and to the Gaza Strip,” 24 Isr. L. Rev. (1990) 485Google Scholar
Kretzmer, D., “The Supreme Court of Israel: Judicial Review during Armed Conflict,” 47 German Y.B. Int'l L. (2005) 392Google Scholar
Kretzmer, D., “The Advisory Opinion: The Light Treatment of International Humanitarian Law,” 99 AJIL88 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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  • Israel
    • By David Kretzmer, Bruce W. Wayne Professor Emeritus of International Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Professor of Law, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, and Academic Center of Law and Business, Ramat Gan
  • Edited by David Sloss
  • Book: The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement
  • Online publication: 06 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511635458.008
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Israel
    • By David Kretzmer, Bruce W. Wayne Professor Emeritus of International Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Professor of Law, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, and Academic Center of Law and Business, Ramat Gan
  • Edited by David Sloss
  • Book: The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement
  • Online publication: 06 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511635458.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Israel
    • By David Kretzmer, Bruce W. Wayne Professor Emeritus of International Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Professor of Law, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, and Academic Center of Law and Business, Ramat Gan
  • Edited by David Sloss
  • Book: The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement
  • Online publication: 06 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511635458.008
Available formats
×