Besatzung, Kolonialherrschaft und Widerstand. Das Völkerrecht und die Legitimierung von Terror

Abstract

Abstract

Occupation, Colonialism and Resistance: International Law and the Legitimation of Terror. This article analyses international law from the early modern period to the present day and, in so doing, it identifies important continuities in the right of states to occupy and colonise non-European societies and to crush the ensuing indigenous resistance. Regardless of international laws which aim to protect civilians and limit violence, developed especially in the twentieth century, states have retained the right to disregard humanitarian considerations upon claiming „states of emergency“ or „military necessity“, even under the laws of occupation. It is argued, therefore, that international law is not a neutral court of appeal for occupied people like the Palestinians as commonly supposed. After tracing the origins of these state-held rights in the work of major legal thinkers, going as far back as Vitoria, the article exemplifi es their bias through a look at the Israeli attack on Gaza Palestinians between December 2008 and January 2009.