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Current Issues of International Law - HP4314

Title:	Current Issues of International Law
Form of teaching:	lecture
Guaranteed by:	Department of Public International Law (22-KMP)
Faculty:	Faculty of Law
Actual:	from 2023
Duration in semesters:	1
Semester:	both
Points:	0
E-Credits:	4
Examination process:	written
Hours per week, examination:	20/0, Ex [HS]
4EU+:	no
Virtual mobility / capacity:	no
Key competences:
State of the course:	taught
Language:	English
Teaching methods:	full-time
Level:
Is provided by:	HOPV0226
Repeated enrollment:	2 / 2 / 2 / 2
Note:	course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester

Guarantor:	prof. JUDr. PhDr. Veronika Bílková, Ph.D., E.MA.
Incompatibility :	HPOP0000, HPOP3000, HP4313
Is incompatible with:	HP4313

WS schedule SS schedule Noticeboard

Annotation - Czech

The course consists of lectures by an external expert and focuses on current issues from a certain area of international law. The lectures are carried out in the form of block teaching. Details about the content of the course and about the lecturer will always be specified before the respective semester.

Information for the academic year 2026–2027:
The course will not be offered in the winter semester of the 2026–2027 academic year.
Information regarding the teaching of the course in the summer semester of the 2025–2026 academic year will be published before the course registration period for that semester.

Last update: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (20.07.2026)

Course assessment methods and requirements for successful completion, grading scheme - Czech

1. Minimum 70% attendance at lectures

2. Written exam

Last update: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (20.07.2026)

Syllabus - Czech

Syllabus / Reading Materials

Part I - Israel’s Military Conflicts: Historical and Political Overview

Class 1: From the 1948 War of Independence through the 1967 Six-Day War to the 1995 Oslo Accords.

· Paul Scham, “Competing Israeli and Palestinian Narratives”, in The Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Joel Peters & David Newman eds., 2012), pp. 33-44.

· Laura Zittrain Eisenberg, “The Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process, 1967–1993”, in The Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Joel Peters & David Newman eds., 2012), pp. 81-91.

Class 2: From the Oslo Accords through the 2005 Disengagement Plan to the 2023 Israel-Hamas War.

· Ahron Bregman, Israel’s Wars: A History Since 1947 (4^th edition, 2016), pp. 309-330.

· Keren Sharvit, “Sociopsychological Foundations of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Applying Daniel Bar-Tal’s Theorizing”, in A Social-Psychology Perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Celebrating the Legacy of Daniel Bar-Tal (Keren Sharvit & Eran Halperin eds., Vol. 2, 2016), pp. 1-14.

Part II - Applicable International Law: Fundamental Challenges and Controversies

Class 3: The Prohibition on the Use of Force and the Self-Defense Exception: Who Struck First?

· Erika de Wet, “The Invocation of the Right to Self-Defence in Response to Armed Attacks Conducted by Armed Groups: Implications for Attribution”, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 32 (2019), pp. 91-110.

· Charles J. Dunlap, “Anticipatory Self-Defense and the Israeli-Iranian Crisis”, 19 ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law, vol. 19 (2013), pp. 319-334.

Class 4: Between Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello: The Legal Status of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.

· ICJ Advisory Opinion, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (9 July 2004), paras. 70-78.

· ICJ Advisory Opinion, Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (19 July 2024), paras. 157-179.

· Eyal Benvenisti, The International Law of Occupation (3rd ed., 2012), pp. 259-267.

· Aeyal Gross, The Writing on The Wall: Rethinking the International Law of Occupation (2017), pp. 141-151.

Classes 5&6: Israeli Military Administration of the Palestinian Territories

· ICJ Advisory Opinion, Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (19 July 2024), paras. 11-156.

· ICJ Advisory Opinion, Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (19 July 2024), paras. 86-113.

· Eyal Benvenisti & Eliav Lieblich, Occupation in International Law (2023), pp 81-107

· Lain Scobbie, “Natural Resources and Belligerent Occupation: Perspectives from International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law”, in International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace (Susan M. Akram et al eds., 2011), pp. 229-252.

Class 7: Israeli Supreme Court Jurisprudence Concerning Israel’s Military Conflicts

· David Kretzmer, “The law of belligerent occupation in the Supreme Court of Israel”, International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 94 (2012), pp. 207-236.

· Cr.A. 7048/97, Anonymous v. Minister of Defense (12 April 2000).

· H.C.J 413/13, Abu Aram v. Minister of Defense (4 May 2022).

Part III - The Conduct of Hostilities since October 2023: Intensified Legal Quandaries

Class 8: The 7 October Massacre and Kidnappings: The Challenge of Holding Hamas Accountable under a State-Centered International Legal System.

· Human Rights Watch, “I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind”: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel (July 2024).

· ICC Press Release, Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issues warrant of arrest for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) (21 Nov. 2024).

Class 9&10: The Israeli Invasion of Gaza and the Protection of Civilians in Asymmetric Warfare.

· ICC Press Release, Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant (21 Nov. 2024)

· ICC Pre-Trial Chamber, Situation in the State of Palestine: Decision on Israel’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to article 19(2) of the Rome Statute (21 Nov. 2024)

· ICC Pre-Trial Chamber, Situation in the State of Palestine: Decision on Israel’s request for an order to the Prosecution to give an Article 18(1) notice (21 Nov. 2024).

· ICJ Order, Provisional Measures, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (south Africa v. Israel) (26 January 2024)

Class 11: The Gaza War Beyond Gaza: Missile Attacks and Transnational Hostilities involving Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.

· Marco Milanovic & Michael Schmitt, “Israel’s Use of Force Against Syria and the Right of Self-Defense”, EJIL:Talk! (12 December 2024).

· Masoud Zamani and Amirabbas Kiani, “Location, Location, Location: Targeting Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Questions of Extraterritoriality in Non-International Armed Conflicts” EJIL:Talk! (1 October 2024).

Part IV – Toward Conflict Resolution

Class 12: The Options on the Table: Legality and Prospects

· George Bisharat, “Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”, in International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace (Susan M. Akram et al eds., 2011), pp. 297-328.

· Martin Indyk, “The Strange Resurrection of the Two-State Solution: How an Unimaginable War Could bring About the Only Imaginable Peace”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 103 (2024), pp. 8-20.

Last update: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (20.08.2025)

Learning resources - Czech