Cover Map- West Bank Access Restrictions: East Jerusalem, December 2012, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, occupied Palestinian territory. Reproduced with permission of UN OCHA oPt. The map reflects access and closure data, and the state of Israelâ€™s West Bank barrier and settlements, as of December 2012. Â

Palestine Developing and harnessing the expertise of young professionals to make sustainable contributions to Palestinian communities

Works about us Palestine Works is a new US-based nonprofit founded by diaspora Palestinians to promote Palestinian human development. Our vision is a Palestinian society that can enjoy the economic, social and political benefits of a strong economy, one powered by the development and deployment of Palestinian human capital.

Our mission is to help realize this vision by developing and harnessing the expertise of young professionals through the creation of high-impact knowledge transfer opportunities, including internships, conferences, publications and networking.

Fellowship The Law Fellowship • Provides vital support to institutions that are defending human rights and fostering human development in Palestinian communities. • Develops young professional advocates for Palestinian equal rights and informed, influential stakeholders in a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. • Cultivates academic and professional ties with Palestinian legal society. Promoting Palestinian human rights and human development. The Law Fellowship provides vital support to institutions that are working to defend Palestinian human rights and unlock the potential of Palestinian human capital.

We recruit qualified and committed legal interns for volunteer positions with our partner organizations. We help our partners make the most of this support by ensuring that the internship is well-planned, the intern is well-prepared, and the intern’s work is well-supervised. The Fellowship also publicizes the work of the local human rights and human development communities. Our Law Fellows commit to legacy projects that build on their internships. We encourage our Fellows to collaborate with our partner organizations on these projects, thereby increasing the visibility of our partners among potential supporters in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe.

Law Fellowship The Law Fellowship connects law students and recent law graduates with organizations that protect human rights and promote human development among Palestinians in the Occupied Territory and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Developing new advocates for Palestinian equal rights. Our Law Fellows are tomorrowâ€™s attorneys and political leaders. The Law Fellowship allows them to witness life under occupation and behold the discrimination facing Palestinian citizens of Israel. They experience the conflictâ€™s devastating effect on Palestinian society and its corrosive effect on Israeli society. But they also experience the richness of Palestinian culture, the resilience of the Palestinian people, and the indefatigable commitment of the human rights defenders in Palestine and Israel. Through their service, our Fellows develop a bond with the Palestinian people and a commitment to improving their lives. They maintain that commitment through legacy projects - academic writing, social

activism, and creative projects - that build on their experiences in Palestine and Israel. Starting with their legacy projects, our Fellows advance the public discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and play a constructive role in reaching a just resolution. Cultivating academic and professional ties with Palestinian legal society. The Law Fellowship promotes the continued development of Palestinian legal education. Our Fellows assist our partner law schools and legal institutes with their research and publishing, thereby increasing their capacity and their profile in the global academic and legal communities. These ties lay the foundation for the second phase of the Law Fellowship, which will build the capacity of young Palestinian lawyers through internships in the US, Canada and Europe.

Law Fellows Conference The Law Fellows Conference is our flagship event, held each June in conjunction with the Al-Haq Center for Applied International Law. The four-day conference explores how international law, human rights law and international humanitarian law apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Each day includes presentations and workshops led by our partner organizations and field visits to human rights flashpoints, such as East Jerusalem, Hebron, the Jordan Valley and the Naqab. The Conference gives our Law Fellows a complete picture of the human rights situation in Palestine and Israel and an orientation to the local human rights community.

WHO WE ARE

Omar is a Palestinian-American lawyer. He is a legal advisor with the Palestinian Negotiations Support Project, which advises the Palestinian leadership on final-status negotiations with Israel. He has worked as a UN Development Programme consultant on trade and labor law to the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy, and has taught courses on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the United Nations system. Omar spent six years practicing labor and employment law at firms in Los Angeles and Chicago, representing labor unions, employees, and employee benefit funds. He is a graduate of the George Washington University and the University of Notre Dame Law School, and is an LL.M. candidate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Omar Yousef Shehabi Executive Director

Nida is a Pakistani-Canadian public affairs and public relations specialist. By day, she is an aviation security analyst with the Federal Government of Canada. Her public affairs research has focused on good governance, democratization, anti-corruption, and human development, and includes an analysis of neopatrimonial structures in the Palestinian Authority. She is also experienced in program performance measurement and evaluation, business planning, and event management. As communications coordinator, Nida manages our organizational communications, public relations, social media, and Canadian student outreach. She holds a Bachelors in Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Conflict Studies. She lives in Ottawa, Canada, and hopes to retire on a vineyard in Palestine one day.

Nida Hussain Communications Coordinator

Hussein is a Palestinian-Canadian engineer, designer and entrepreneur. He is a founding partner of Art & Design Management Group (ADMG), a brand management firm geared towards the talent and nonprofit sectors. He is also the founder and co-owner of Ottawa Fashion Week. Hussein focuses on the intersection of culture and design, with a keen eye for symbols and symbolism in visual and structural design. His key areas of contribution to Palestine Works center on brand management, design of visual media, and attracting and recruiting talent. Hussein hopes to one day lead a cultural integration initiative for Palestinian identity and heritage. He holds Civil Engineering and Architecture degrees from Carleton University, and is currently pursuing a professional professional graduate diploma at the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada. He lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Hussein Rashid Strategic Consultant

2014 Partner Organizations & Law Fellows 12

Adalah The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel Haifa

Adalah defends the rights of the Palestinian minority in Israel and Palestinians in the oPt through impact litigation, local and international advocacy, education and training. Adalah has over 30 cases pending before Israeli courts and governmental committees, many challenging laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. It represents several Palestinian Knesset members against

efforts to strip their parliamentary immunity and disqualify them from standing for election. Adalah is also leading the campaign against an Israeli government plan to forcibly displace up to 70,000 Bedouin citizens and destroy 35 unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev desert. It has filed suit to stop demolition and eviction orders, and to connect the villages to the electrical grid and water network.

Torrance Castellano Harvard Law School Cambridge, Massachusetts Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

Torry is a second-year JD candidate at Harvard Law School, focusing on international law and human rights advocacy. She holds a BA in Political Science from Stanford University. Torry serves on the Harvard International Law Journal and the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and was selected to participate in Harvardâ€™s renowned Negotiation Workshop. At Stanford, she worked as a research assistant for Professor Jenny Martinez on victims

reparations and international courts. Prior to her undergraduate studies, Torry played drums in an all-female rock band, The Donnas, touring internationally for over a decade and experiencing a variety of cultures and perspectives, as well as the challenges of gender bias. Torry has studied both Arabic and Hebrew, and she hopes to work in international human rights law and advocacy in the region after graduation.

2013 Law Fellows attend a performance of the Ramallah Orchestra at St. Annesâ€™s Church Old City, East Jerusalem, July 2013

Danara Dourdoussova Osgoode Hall Law School, York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

Danara is a third-year JD candidate at Osgoode Hall. She holds a BA in Economics, Political Science and International Relations from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the United Arab Emirates University. Danara was honored as distinguished oralist in Osgoode Hall’s 2012 moot court competition and participated in the Vis international commercial arbitration moot competition. She is the founding president of Osgoode’s East of Berlin | West of China student association and has volunteered with Canadians for Peace

and Justice in the Middle East. Prior to law school, Danara worked in strategic policy and planning for the Ontario Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. She also researched the exploitation of natural resources in Russia and Central Asia for the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Danara is fluent in English and Russian, proficient in Arabic and the Mongolian dialect of Kalmyk, and knows basic French and Spanish. She enjoys running, biking and swimming, classical music, ballet, and good coffee.

Adalah attorney Nadia Ben-Youssef conducts a workshop on the Prawer Plan, the Israeli governmentâ€™s plan to forcibly relocate 40,000 Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel living in unrecognized villages in the Naqab desert. Palestine Works / Al-Haq Law Fellows Conference, Ramallah, June 2013

Defence for Children International-Palestine Ramallah DCI-Palestine protects the rights of Palestinian children in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international standards. More than 7,000 Palestinian children have been prosecuted in the Israeli military court system since 2000, most for throwing stones. Many are subjected to ill-treatment and due process violations during their arrest, transfer, and interrogation. DCI investigates, publicizes, and files legal complaints in cases of abuse and

due process violations. DCI has also investigated and taken legal action to stop the Israeli militaryâ€™s use of children as human shields and settler violence against Palestinian children. Additionally, DCI provides legal representation to children in delinquency proceedings in Palestinian courts, monitors conditions at Palestinian juvenile detention centers, and holds the Palestinian Authority accountable to international juvenile justice standards.

Nicole Banister Pepperdine University School of Law Los Angeles, California Defence for Children International Palestine

Nicole is a third-year JD candidate at Pepperdine University School of Law. She holds a BA in Political Science and International Studies, with a concentration in the Middle East, from Taylor University in Indiana. At Pepperdine, Nicole is the legal summaries editor of the Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary and an officer with Advocates for Public Interest Law. She participates in the Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic at the Union Rescue Mission, which provides legal assistance to homeless and low-income

residents of low-income residents of the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles. Nicole has worked as a judicial intern with the Ugandan High Court of Justice, where she assisted with the establishment of a criminal plea-bargaining system and the enforcement of the rule of law. As an undergraduate, she spent four months living in Jerusalem, where she studied Palestinian politics and biblical geography. She also played intercollegiate lacrosse and counseled and mentored teenage girls through her local YMCA.

Birthday party for 2013 Law Fellow Amir Naim (George Washington University, Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic). Ramallah, July 2013

ARIJ Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem Bethlehem

ARIJ promotes sustainable development and self-reliance in Palestine through greater control and better management of natural resources, including resource utilization, conservation, improved practices, and technology. ARIJ specializes in land use, sustainable agriculture, water, environment, natural resources management, and related political dynamics. Its current projects focus on the impact of urbanization on land use and local community structures, developing policy tools for sustainable land use and urban development in the current

transitional political context, the ecological state of the Dead Sea basin, improving crop yields to provide food security in agricultural communities, treatment of waste from olive oil production, and the conservation and sustainable use of dryland agrobiodiversity. ARIJ also monitors Israeli policies and practices that interfere with sustainable development, particularly settlements. It conducts environmental impact reports on settlements, maintains a database of settlement outposts, and reports on settlements to UN and international organizations.

Rebekah Wolf University of California, Hastings College of the Law San Francisco, California Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ)

Rebekah is a third-year JD candidate at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She holds a BA in History from New York University. Rebekah has substantial experience documenting and confronting human rights violations in Palestine. She has coordinated an international campaign to end military administrative detention and has trained Palestinian youth and women in videography, human rights documentation, social media, and media advocacy. Rebekahâ€™s paper on implementing self-determination in Israel/Palestine after the return of Palestinian

refugees was presented at the 2013 Right of Return Conference at Boston University. She has also written on rulemaking and dispute-processing in rural Palestine and is researching governance structures in West Bank communities not under Palestinian Authority control. Previously, Rebekah worked as a high school and special education teacher, and as a caseworker and advocate for immigrant detainees in the New York City area. She has clerked for the First Judicial District of New Mexico and speaks proficient Arabic and Spanish.

Nablus (photo by Ashley Gaillard, 2013 Law Fellow)

BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Bethlehem

BADIL promotes a solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) that is grounded in their rights under international law, namely return, property restitution, and compensation. BADIL holds special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and participates in several UN working groups on refugees and forced displacement. Its Ongoing Nakba Education Center documents Israeli

human rights violations that continue to displace Palestinians. BADILâ€™s publications include the Al Majdal quarterly magazine, a biennial survey of Palestinian refugees and IDPs, and a handbook on the protection of Palestinian refugees. In 2013, BADIL held the first Palestinian conference on forced population transfer, where it debuted the first in a series of reports examining the triggers of forced displacement.

Jessica Binzoni University of Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame, Indiana BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

Jessica is a third-year JD candidate at the University of Notre Dame Law School. She holds a BA in English, with a minor in Theology and Religious Studies, from St. Maryâ€™s College of California, and studied in Palestine and Israel as an undergraduate. At Notre Dame, Jessica serves as articles editor of the Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, a research assistant with the Center for Civil and Human Rights, and chair of the speakers committee of the International Human Rights Society. She has interned with Asylum Access, a

refugee rights nonprofit operating in first countries of refuge in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She recently completed an externship with the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she represented clients seeking asylum in the United States in petitions for relief from removal, humanitarian parole, and deferred action. She is pursuing a career in international human rights law, focusing on the rights of refugees and immigrants. Jessica speaks French and is a dual national of the United States and Switzerland.

2013 Law Fellows with Professor Ilan Pappe, at his lecture, Displacing Palestine, hosted by partner organizations BADIL and Adalah. Bethlehem, July 2013

Al-Haq Ramallah

Al-Haq documents and seeks accountability for human rights violations against Palestinians in the Occupied Territory. Al-Haq has pursued state and corporate accountability for aiding and abetting the occupation. It has sued multinational corporations that profit from Israeli settlements, worked around the world to deny these companies public investment and procurement, and pressured governments to warn domestic companies of the legal consequences of involvement in

the occupation. Al-Haq also researches and reports on breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law in the oPt. Its recent reports examine Israel’s exploitation of Palestinian natural resources around the Dead Sea and disproportionate use of shared water supplies, European trade in produce grown in settlements, and the illegality of Israel’s demand to negotiate “land swaps” from the Palestinian territory it currently occupies.

2013 Law Fellows take to Ramallahâ€™s Manara Square to celebrate Mohammad Assafâ€™s victory in the 2013 Arab Idol song competition. Ramallah, June 2013

Salmah Y Rizvi New York University School of Law New York, New York Al-Haq

Salmah is a second-year JD candidate at the New York University (NYU) School of Law. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University and an MS in Foreign Service, specializing in the Middle East, from Georgetown University. Salmahâ€™s interest in Palestine began in 2008 when she held a fundraising event for Palestinian children with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through her nonprofit, Vision XChange. As part of her MS examination, she authored and defended a policy memo on redefining the US-Israel relationship. Salmah worked for the US State Department

and Department of Defense, where she advocated for the Departments to view Muslim-Americans as assets rather than threats to US national security and introduced diverse, nuanced perspectives on Palestine. Salmah is actively involved on campus and serves as chair of the NYU Law Women of Color Collective. She will be working for Al-Haq as an NYU International Law and Human Rights Fellow. She is also a Truman Scholar and a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow. Her ultimate goal is to protect the human rights of Palestinians through US foreign policy.

2013 Law Fellow Ashley Gaillard (Georgetown University Law Center, Al-Haq) and executive director Omar Shehabi after a meeting with the US State Departmentâ€™s Deputy Director of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs to discuss the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. Washington, DC, October 2013

Jordan Manalastas Cornell University Law School Ithaca, New York Al-Haq

Jordan is a third-year JD candidate at Cornell Law School. He holds a BA in Political Theory from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was a weekly columnist for The Daily Bruin newspaper. Jordan has studied international and comparative law at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. As the associate for Middle Eastern affairs for the Cornell International Law Journal, he writes monthly critiques on contemporary issues in the region. He also writes analyses of upcoming US Supreme Court

cases for the Legal Information Institute. His first true glimpse of the power of law was witnessing, in the summer after university, the daily triumphs and troubles of criminal justice in a regional courthouse in the Philippines. Jordan’s commitment towards Palestine comes principally from an internationalist conviction and his own postcolonial heritage. He is intrigued by the role of religion in crafting national and revolutionary narratives. Jordan is a lifelong musician, an amateur filmmaker and an inveterate lover of language.

Mark Nelson Georgetown University Law Center Washington, DC Al-Haq

Mark is a third-year JD candidate at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has focused on international human rights and humanitarian law. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Utah. Mark represented Georgetown at the 2014 Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition and served as a research assistant for a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination during its 84th session in Geneva. He has worked as a legal intern

in the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program at Human Rights Watch, where he focused on drone strikes and prisoner abuse by the US military. He currently serves as a law fellow at the International Center for Civil Society Law. Mark became interested in Palestinian rights after living in Johannesburg and recognizing close parallels between apartheid South Africa and contemporary Palestine/Israel. After graduation, he plans to work in the human rights and humanitarian law community.

Fasayel The Palestinian Bedouin village of Fasayel is located in the Jordan Valley. Lower Fasayel is located in Area B, under Palestinian civil control, while middle and upper Fasayel are located in Area C, under Israeli civil and security control. The Israeli military government has not approved a modern master plan for development in Fasayel. Without an approved master plan, the Israeli authorities will not issue building permits to the villageâ€™s residents. Without building permits, virtually every structure erected in middle and upper Fasayel is deemed illegal and subject to demolition. The Israeli authorities have repeatedly demolished the residentsâ€™ makeshift homes on this basis. This situation plays out regularly across Palestinian communities in Area C. The 2013 Law Fellows visited Fasayel during the Law Fellows Conference. Here, a Palestinian Bedouin resident shows the remains of his demolished structures.

Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem East Jerusalem

Civic Coalition is comprised of human rights organizations, labor unions, academic institutions and cultural societies dedicated to protecting the human rights of Palestinians in Jerusalem. The Coalition monitors, documents, and seeks redress for human rights violations in Jerusalem. Its international advocacy includes an October 2013 report for Israelâ€™s Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council and a 2011 alternate report to the UN Economic and Social Council. Its

recent reports have studied the impact of the Separation Wall on the Palestinian economy in Jerusalem, advocated for a unified educational authority for East Jerusalem, documented Israeli land confiscation and house demolitions, reviewed the legal status of Jerusalemite Palestinians under Israeli law and its civil rights consequences, and assessed the effects of the Jerusalem Light Rail train, which runs through occupied East Jerusalem.

â€œIf you took Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Jim Crow America and interwar Germany, mixed those colors on your palette, you might be able to paint an image resembling present-day Hebron.â€? Tochi Tochi Onyebuchi, Onyebuchi, In In the the Garden Garden of of Good Good and and Evil: Evil: Palestine, Palestine, Part Part 8, 8, in inThe The Palestine Palestine Papers, Papers, aa series series of of essays essays about aboutTochi's Tochi's experiences experiences in in Palestine Palestine as as aa 2013 2013 Law Law Fellow. Fellow.

Kathryn Sadasivan George Washington University Law School Washington, DC Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem

Kathryn is a second-year JD candidate at the George Washington University Law School. A Shreveport, Louisiana native, she holds a BA in Political Science from Tulane University in New Orleans and studied the law of armed conflict at American University in Washington, DC. Kathryn is a human rights activist in the DC community and serves as class representative to the Human Rights Law Society at GW Law. She has interned with the Orleans Public Defenders Office, the United Nations Information

Center in Washington DC, and the US Department of Health and Human Services. Kathrynâ€™s Tamil heritage and familiarity with Tamil-Sinhalese relations in Sri Lanka sparked her interest in Palestine/Israel. Her undergraduate and postgraduate writing has examined the relationship between anti-Americanism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the status of private military contractors under the law of armed conflict. She plans to pursue a career in international humanitarian law.

HaMoked Center for Defence of the Individual East Jerusalem

HaMoked offers free legal aid and administrative services to Palestinians in the Occupied Territory. Its areas of expertise include freedom of movement and access, administrative detention and detainee rights, compensation for physical violence and property destruction, penal house demolitions, residency rights and family unification. HaMoked challenges Israeli government violations in these areas through impact litigation, public campaigns and reports.

Through these efforts, HaMoked has stopped the construction of the Separation Wall in Azoun/Nebi Elias, obtained an Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the use of torture on Palestinian prisoners, quashed a law to restrict Palestinian access to Israeli civil courts, and compelled the Israeli government to recognize military staypermits granted to Palestinians from the oPt to live with their families in Israel as work permits.

Abigail Mack Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law Columbus, Ohio HaMoked: Center for Defence of the Individual

Abigail is a second-year JD candidate at the Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, where she focuses on public international law and development.Â She holds a BA in International Studies from Colorado State University, a Masters in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University, and a certificate in advanced Chinese language from Cornell University. She will intern this year with the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Prior to law school, Abigail served as director

of home ownership for a nonprofit real estate developer, where she oversaw the financing, development and implementation of publicly-funded housing projects and neighborhood redevelopment initiatives. Previously, she studied in East Asia, which cemented her interest in international development, human rights and social equity. With nine years of experience in the affordable housing industry, Abigailâ€™s passions are poverty alleviation, housing and human rights, and sustainable urbanization.

JLAC Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center East Jerusalem and Ramallah

JLAC provides legal aid to Palestinian victims of human rights violations, including house demolitions, forced displacement, land confiscation, settler violence, revocation of residency rights, property tax over-assessments and nonpayment penalties, and denial of national insurance benefits. JLAC’s international advocacy includes the Karama Freedom of Movement campaign, which seeks to improve conditions, eliminate degrading treatment, reduce exit taxes, and eliminate other barriers

to travel at the Allenby Bridge crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Its Residency Rights of Jerusalemites campaign publicizes Israeli laws and policies that strip Palestinians of their Jerusalem residency rights. JLAC’s recent publications have examined the Israeli government’s practices in Area C of the West Bank, including its manipulation of zoning and planning laws, and its displacement of the indigenous Palestinian Bedouin population.

Patricia Shnell New York University School of Law New York, New York Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center

Patti is a second-year JD candidate at New York University (NYU) School of Law. She holds a BA in Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. At NYU Law, Patti is vice-chair and treasurer of Law Students for Human Rights and a student advocate with the Unemployment Action Committee. As an undergraduate, she studied in Switzerland, India, China and South Africa through the International Honors Program of Comparative Public Health. She also served as a volunteer

tutor in the Oakland, California public schools, and interned with the Public Law Center. A Southern California native, Patti spent eight months traveling in Central and South America after graduating from Berkeley. She is pursing a career as an international human rights lawyer and hopes to contribute one day to a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Patti speaks French and enjoys travel, backpacking, reading novels, and playing sports.

Qatanna Qatanna Is a Palestinian village of approximately 7,000 residents located 12 km northwest of Jerusalem, situated on the eastern edge of the Green Line. The adjacent settlement of Har Adar, built in 1982, sits on land confiscated from the village. Qatanna has been severed from Jerusalem, traditionally its primary source of employment, educational, and health services, by the Separation Wall. The village is also separated from Ramallah by Road 443, an Israeli bypass road which has been effectively closed to Palestinian traffic since 2002. Residents must instead use a circuitous back road, which includes two walled underpasses beneath Road 443, to reach Ramallah. Here, the 2013 Law Fellows walk past the remotelyoperated gate that controls access to the Nijim family home, located on the outskirts of Qatanna, within the closed military zone between Har Adar and the Green Line. Members of the family must obtain permits to continue living in the house. The gate is monitored by CCTV and controlled by operators at the Qalandia checkpoint, 10 km away.

MSD Al Maqdese for Society Development East Jerusalem

Al Maqdese for Society Development (MSD) defends Palestinian human rights in Jerusalem through direct legal services, legal advocacy and lobbying. MSD has created a database of human rights violations that is updated daily by its field researchers and shared with UN bodies and other Palestinian and international NGOs. In 2012, MSD published a comprehensive report of Israeli human rights violations in Jerusalem over the previous decade, including land expropriation, settlement

and separation wall construction, revocation of residency rights, home demolitions, forced evictions, and denial of access to education, employment and health services. MSD also operates a legal aid clinic, which provides free consultations and legal representation to Palestinian Jerusalemites on a broad range of issues, including government benefits,tax assessments and labor rights.

Raffaele Piccolo University of Adelaide Adelaide, Australia Al-Maqdese for Society Development

Raffaele recently graduated with a combined Bachelor of Law and International Studies, with a Diploma of Languages (Italian), from the University of Adelaide. His legal studies focused on public international law, international humanitarian law, and refugee and immigration law. He competed in the Qualifying Rounds for the 2014 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, and his honors thesis explored the role of ownership in transitional justice and reconciliation efforts. Raffaele is also a former president of the Adelaide University

Union. He has held several leadership roles with Amnesty International Australia and presently serves on its national board. Most recently, he worked with JusticeNet, a nonprofit organization that coordinates free legal services to low-income and disadvantaged South Australians. He has published several policy articles, including a 2013 paper on the debate over combining Australiaâ€™s anti-discrimination laws into a single Commonwealth Act, published in the Bulletin of the Law Society of South Australia.

Community activists in the East Jerusalem village of Beit Safafa point out the village land confiscated for settlement construction and a new highway linking the Etzion settlement bloc to Jerusalem. Beit Safafa, East Jerusalem, June 2013

Al Mustakbal Foundation for Strategic and Policy Studies Ramallah

Al Mustakbal Foundation (AMF) is a research institute addressing economic, legal and regulatory issues facing Palestinian society on the road to statehood. AMFâ€™s work focuses on law reform, judicial empowerment and economic development. It led a two-year study of legislative reform for the Palestinian economy, in

cooperation with the US Department of Stateâ€™s Middle East Partnership Initiative, and is currently researching strategies for reducing Palestineâ€™s reliance on donor aid. AMF also represents the Palestinian side in a track-two negotiation with former Israeli officials on a special administrative regime for the Old City of Jerusalem.

Nadine Kheshen Loyola Law School Los Angeles, California Al-Mustakbal Foundation for Strategic & Policy Studies

Nadine is a second-year JD candidate at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, concentrating in international and comparative law. She holds a BA in Political Science from MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada. Nadine was born and raised in Canada and has lived in Lebanon, Australia and the United States. At Loyola, she serves as community outreach co-chair of the Public Interest Law Foundation. As an undergraduate, she was active in human rights organizations on campus, raising

awareness of the atrocities in Darfur and the plight of child soldiers and refugees. Nadine has experience working with the Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon, having volunteered in the Shatila camp in Beirut and with a nonprofit organization that funds programs in refugee camps across Lebanon. She hopes to work in the field of human rights and humanitarian law after graduation. In her spare time, Nadine loves to perform Lebanese folkloric dance.

Old City, Jerusalem (photo by Ashley Gaillard, 2013 Law Fellow)

Mada al-Carmel Arab Center for Applied Social Research Haifa

Mada al-Carmel enhances the human and national development of the Palestinians in Israel, advances the cause of democratic citizenship, and serves as a hub of critical thinking about Palestinians in Israel, equal citizenship, and democracy. Mada co-authored and published the 2007 Haifa Declaration, a foundational text for Palestinians in Israel

in their campaign for national rights and equal citizenship. Its regular publications include a journal, Jadal (â€œdebateâ€?), political monitoring reports on Israeli policies towards its Palestinian citizens, and articles in its core competences of democratic rights, gender studies, education, economic justice, Palestinian society and Israel studies.

Urooj Rahman Fordham University School of Law New York, New York Mada al-Carmel: Arab Center for Applied Social Research

Urooj is a third-year JD candidate at Fordham University School of Law. She holds a BA in Political Science, with a concentration in International Political Economy, from Fordham University. Urooj is a member of Fordham Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she has researched and written on the New York Police Department’s abusive and invasive policing practices towards Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities. Her work in the Clinic this year will focus on human rights abuses

in South Africa. Last year, Urooj clerked with the Northern Ireland Departmental Solicitor’s Office, where she advised the Northern Ireland Parliament on law reform issues and witnessed the lingering divisive issues in post-conflict government. As an undergraduate, she worked at the Mirror Foundation in northern Thailand, assisting hill tribe people in petitioning the Thai government for citizenship. Born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Urooj is pursuing a career in international human rights law.

Mattin Group Ramallah

Mattin Group draws on the disciplines of law, economics, commerce and trade policy to address problems of international human rights law and international humanitarian law enforcement and issues of third state responsibility. Mattin uses passive enforcement mechanisms to hold states to their domestic law and international law commitments not to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Arab territories. Mattin has successfully led

Israelâ€™s key trading partners (US, EU and EFTA) to reverse their de facto acceptance of Israelâ€™s administrative annexation of the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories, established separate regimes for trading with Palestinian exporters, and has overcome Israelâ€™s refusal to permit direct Palestinian agricultural exports. It also produces analytical reports on IHL, EU external relations and trade-related subjects.

Stephanie Swieter George Washington University Law School Washington, DC Mattin Group

Stephanie is a second-year JD candidate at the George Washington University Law School. She holds a BA in Middle Eastern Languages and Literature (Arabic) and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. She became interested in Palestine after taking a course titled â€˜Palestine 1948â€™, which examined the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the subjective experience of both

peoples. Prior to law school, Stephanie interned at the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. At GW Law, she is an active member of the International Law Society and the Human Rights Law Society. She would like to pursue a legal career combining international law, human rights and the Middle East. Stephanie enjoys playing soccer, laughing, and meeting new people.

During a day out in the beautiful Old City of Acre, 2013 Law Fellows Aasiya Mirza Glover (University of Chicago, Mossawa Center) and Jessica Luhar (Columbia Law School, Adalah) pose in front of posters opposing the Prawer Plan, the Israeli government proposal to forcibly relocate Palestinian Bedoin citizens of Israel living in the Naqab (Negev) desert.

Mossawa Center Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel Haifa

Mossawa Center strives to improve the social, economic and political status of the Arab citizens of Israel, while preserving their national and cultural rights as Palestinians. Mossawa undertakes domestic government advocacy, socioeconomic research and analysis, public information campaigns, capacity-building with other Arab NGOs, and cooperative work with local councils, Israeli NGOs, and international organizations. It has led the campaign against Israeli legislation

restricting foreign funding for NGOs that would threaten the ability of Arab and human rights NGOs to operate independently within Israel. Mossawa also analyzes the Knessetâ€™s annual budgets, focusing on the disparity in land, housing, and planning expenditures between Jewish and Arab communities. In 2012, Mossawa filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court requesting equal State budget allocation for Palestinian culture organizations in Israel.

Alice McBurney Australian National University Canberra, Australia Mossawa Center: Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel

Alice recently graduated with a combined Bachelor of Law and Political Science from the Australian National University (ANU). She received the Mick Dodson Prize for Indigenous Law for her commitment to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As the founder and leader of the ‘Ready 4 Recognition’ project at the ANU College of Law, she developed a community legal education campaign to disseminate accurate and accessible information about Australia’s forthcoming referendum on constitutional recognition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

peoples. As an intern with the National Centre for Indigenous Studies, she conducted research on avenues for the implementation of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination. Alice has also worked as a research assistant with the Australian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance and as a paralegal with the Australian Capital Territory Legal Aid Commission. The clear parallels between the status and rights of the Palestinian people and Australia’s indigenous peoples have drawn Alice to the cause of Palestinian human rights and self-determination.

Mossawa Center deputy director Rania Laham-Grayeb welcomes the 2013 Law Fellows for a presentation on the history and current reality of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Mossawa Center, Haifa, July 2013

An-Najah National University Faculty of Law Nablus

An-Najah National Universityâ€™s Faculty of Law was established in 1995. In 2003, the College of Law added Masters programs in public and private law. The Faculty of Law currently has 650 students at the bachelors and masters levels. The Faculty of Lawâ€™s Legal Center for Studies, Consultation and Training was established in 2007.

The Legal Center aims to fill in the gaps in Palestinian legislation and to meet the legal needs of the local community. It conducts research, consultations and training in conjunction with other public and private institutions on the domestic and international levels, and organizes legal seminars, conferences and courses.

Issa al-Aweel University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law Washington, DC An-Najah National University Faculty of Law

Issa is a third-year JD candidate at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law. Originally from Syria, he holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and an MS in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University. Issa spent several years with an academic hospital, conducting research involving cardiac data in epilepsy patients and premature newborns. He decided to study law to help resolve the continued conflicts in the Middle East and to help build

sustainable political and legal structures in the region. Issa serves as managing editor of the UDC Law Review, a Student Bar Association senator, and president of the Equal Justice Works student chapter. He has interned with Catholic Charities Immigration Services, where he worked on political asylum applications for Middle Eastern refugees. Issa is also active in the DC community, coaching youth soccer, tutoring immigrants on office skills, and tutoring hospital employees who are looking to advance their careers.

Vanessa Onguti George Washington University Law School Washington, DC An-Najah National University Faculty of Law

Vanessa is a second-year JD candidate at the George Washington University Law School. She holds a BA in International Studies from Baylor University. She earned a minor in Arabic and studied at the American University in Cairo in 2011. At GW Law, Vanessa serves as a caseworker with the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Program, treasurer of the Human Rights Law Society, and vice

president of internal affairs of the Christian Legal Society. Before law school, she taught English in Thailand and volunteered in Kenya. She is pursuing a career in international economic development and wrote her undergraduate degree thesis on poverty alleviation initiatives in Kenya. She is fluent in Swahili and speaks conversational Arabic and Spanish.

2013 Law Fellow Taimoor Choudhry (Pennsylvania State University, An-Najah National University Faculty of Law) takes in the view of the Cedars Valley, west of Jerusalem.

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel West Jerusalem

PCATI protects Palestinians, Israelis and foreign nationals from torture and ill-treatment by Israeli security agencies, including the Israel Police, the General Security Service (GSS), the Israel Prison Service and the Israel Defense Forces. PCATI monitors the implementation of a 1999 Israeli Supreme Court ruling that prohibited a number of GSS’s interrogation and torture methods by visiting detainees in detention facilities and collecting testimony and sworn

affidavits. PCATI petitions the Court against the use of illegal interrogation methods, substandard conditions of detention, interference with detainees’ right to counsel, and other violations of detainees’ rights. PCATI has also filed Court petitions challenging other Israeli human rights violations, including Israel’s assassination policy, measures contributing to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, and laws abrogating the rights of security detainees.

Roee Shalev New York University School of Law New York, New York Public Committee Against Torture in Israel

Roee is a second-year JD candidate at New York University (NYU) School of Law. Born in Los Angeles to Israeli parents, he holds a BA in History and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). At NYU, Roee is a student volunteer with the Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office as well as the National Lawyers Guild. Before law school, Roee worked as an in-school and after-school tutor in Los Angeles. He developed and led a

junior counselor program at a summer camp for foster youth, and worked as a volunteer legal assistant with the Childrenâ€™s Law Center of California. Having lived in Israel for six years, Roee wants to use his local knowledge and fluent Hebrew to challenge the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees from both sides of the Green Line. Roee is pursuing a career in criminal justice and intends to serve as a public defender.

Shahrazad Odeh, an attorney with Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, shows the 2013 Law Fellows the remnants of forced Palestinian displacement in her native Haifa.

Al Quds University Human Rights Clinic East Jerusalem

Al Quds University, the first Palestinian university in Jerusalem, confers LLB and LLM degrees through its Faculty of Law. The Al Quds Human Rights Clinic, the first accredited clinical legal education program in the Arab world, offers law students a full-year, six-credit course combining instruction on international human rights law and practice, legal training with local human rights organizations, and a practicum with one of four Clinic

initiatives: the Right to Education Project, Jerusalem Project, Street Law Project and the Legal Services Project. The Clinic also publicizes human rights violations in occupied Palestine through scholarship, including an analysis co-authored with Harvard Law School on the impact and legality of the Israeli-built Eastern Ring Road through East Jerusalem, and through the individual complaints procedure of the UN Human Rights Committee.

Omar Bailony University of California, Berkeley School of Law Berkeley, California Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic

Omar is a second-year JD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). At Berkeley Law, Omar is the incoming editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Journal for Middle Eastern and Islamic Law. He is also a member of the Healthcare and Biotech Law Society and a volunteer advocate with the California Asylum Representation

Clinic. At UCSD, Omar was active in Students for Justice in Palestine, and wrote on the human rights consequences of the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Born in California to Syrian parents, he has worked on projects to document human rights violations in the Syrian crisis and provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced. He has worked extensively as a youth mentor at his local community center.

Silwan is a Palestinian neighborhood of 55,000 residents in East Jerusalem, located on the southern edge of the Old City. Israeli settlers, backed by the right-wing settler organization Elad, have recently seized over 40 homes in the Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan. In the neighboring Al-Bustan area, thousands of Palestinian residents are threatened with displacement because their homes are located within a â€œgreen zoneâ€? in which the Israeli Jerusalem municipality intends to build a national park. Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Silwan. Jerusalem Human Rights Tour. June 2013

Society of St. Yves East Jerusalem

The Society of St. Yves is a Catholic human rights organization working under the patronage of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, providing pro bono legal assistance, counsel and advocacy. St. Yves focuses on the unique human rights issues facing Palestinians in Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank. Its attorneys challenge the revocation of Jerusalem residency rights, denial of family unification in marriages between West Bank and

Jerusalem residents, confiscation of private property declared state land, house demolitions, restrictions on freedom of movement, denial of health care and social security benefits, and obstacles to registering children with the Israeli population registry, which deprives children of access to education, healthcare and other basic rights. Saint Yves also conducts â€œknow your rightsâ€? seminars and other community outreach initiatives.

Kulsoom Ijaz Syracuse University College of Law Syracuse, New York Society of St. Yves

Kulsoom is a third-year JD candidate at Syracuse University College of Law. She holds BAs in Philosophy as well as Government and International Politics, with a minor in Middle East Studies, from George Mason University. Kulsoom is the notes and comments editor of the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce. The Journal’s Fall 2014 edition will feature her student note, which urges US legislative changes that would allow American Muslim families to adopt Afghan children without violating important Islamic children’s rights and family rights laws. She also serves as special features editor of Impunity

Watch, Syracuse Law’s human rights news source and journal. Kulsoom is an associate member of the Moot Court Honor Society and was a semifinalist in the Mackenzie Lewis Appellate Advocacy Competition. Before law school, she interned with the Women Against Violence Organization, a Palestinian women’s rights organization in Nazareth, and is excited to return this summer. Born in Canada to Pakistani parents and raised in Dubai and the US, Kulsoom hopes to pursue a legal career as a human rights advocate, focusing on Central and South Asia in addition to the Middle East.

Amari Refugee Camp, Ramallah District

UNRWA United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East East Jerusalem

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programs for Palestine refugees. Today, the Agency provide assistance and protection for some 5 million registered Palestinian refugees. UNRWA human development and humanitarian services encompass primary and vocational education, primary health care, relief and social services, infrastructure and camp improvement, microfinance and emergency response, including in situations of armed conflict.

The West Bank Field Office provides services to 771,000 registered refugees, around a quarter of whom live in 19 refugee camps. The Field Legal Office serves all the legal needs of UNRWA operations in the West Bank. Its areas of focus include refugee protection, privileges and immunities of UN officials and assets, the Agencyâ€™s relations with governmental authorities, land use, employment law matters involving Agency personnel, procurement contract administration, and compliance with UN policies and practices.

2014 Law Fellowship Student Representative

Hady Matar Georgetown University Law Center Washington, DC United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Hady is a third-year JD candidate at Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in public international law and international human rights law. Born and raised in Florida to Palestinian and Lebanese parents, he holds a BA in History from Trinity College. He is a member of the Georgetown Journal of International Law, and represented Georgetown at the 2014 Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition. As a 2013 Law Fellow, Hady worked with the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights

in Jerusalem, where he helped to draft shadow reports to several international treaty bodies. He has served as a legal intern with the American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee and as a research assistant to acclaimed human rights lawyer Richard Goldstone. Before law school, he interned with the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, DC. Hady will study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Fall 2014, and intends to work in human rights in Palestine after graduation.

Hady Matar and PLO Executive Committee member Asâ€™ad Abdul Rahman dance while sailing in Haifa Bay. Acre, July 2013

Women’s Centre for Legal Aid & Counseling Ramallah

WCLAC works to develop a democratic Palestinian society based on equality and social justice between men and women. The Centre has played a key role in addressing gender-based violence in Palestinian society. It advocates for gender-justice reforms in the areas of criminal law, family law, and women’s finance and inheritance rights. It works to eliminate reduced murder sentences for “honor killings,” and for personal-status

law reforms in the areas of marriage age, polygamy, divorce and custody decisions. It recently published a comprehensive gender analysis of the draft Palestinian constitution. WCLAC’s reports detail the effects of the occupation on women. Recent subjects include settlements, forced evictions and displacements in East Jerusalem, and restrictions on movement in the “seam zone” between the separation wall and the 1949 armistice line.

Alexis Gardner University of California, Los Angeles School of Law Los Angeles, California Womenâ€™s Center for Legal Aid & Counseling

Alexis is a second-year JD candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, specializing in critical race studies and public interest law. She holds a BA and an MA in Rhetoric from California State University, Los Angeles, and an MA in Afro-American Studies from UCLA. In 2012, Alexis founded R.O.O.T.S., a nonprofit organization which facilitates mentorship of at-risk, underprivileged youth of color. Its dynamic social service

program includes monthly outings to cultural landmarks in Los Angeles and alternative Saturday school, covering a range of important topics from safe sex to the history of Black and Latino activism. Her research interests include international human rights law, political prisoners, and criminal justice reform. Upon graduation, she plans to join the US Foreign Service. She enjoys traveling, swimming, eating, and spending time with children.

2013 Law Fellow Nawal Maalouf (Columbia Law School, Womenâ€™s Centre for Legal Aid & Counseling) tries her hand at pottery. Hebron, June 2013

Board of Advisors Our Board of Advisors is comprised of distinguished academics and advocates for Palestinian rights who guide our Law Fellows on their legacy projects. Through their counsel, the Advisors help to start our Fellows on a path of sustained advocacy for Palestinian equal rights. The Board of Advisors is central to our strategy of developing young professional advocates who will advance the public discourse on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

George Bisharat Professor of Law University of California, Hastings College of the Law Member, Palestine Works Board of Advisors

In the summer of 1982 Harvard Law School sponsored my internship with al-Haq (then called Law in the Service of Man). My main assignment at alHaq was to document Israeli settler abuses of their Palestinian neighbors, ranging from theft of land, vandalism of orchards, shootings, and other attacks and harassment. As I traveled throughout the region, gathering affidavits and other evidence of Israeli settler violence, I was humbled by the courage and dignity of the Palestinian villagers, and by the burning determination of al-Haq investigators and lawyers to stand with them, to bear witness to their suffering, and to provide them with the best legal protection possible. That experience has never left me, and more than anything inspired me to always take the side of the powerless, and to always fight for justice no matter the odds. More than thirty years later my passion for my work to advance Palestinian rights is undiminished, and the friends and colleagues I met during that summer are still a vital part of my life. If we can endow even a handful of young lawyers with similar experiences, that would give me yet further confidence that justice in this long struggle will ultimately prevail. 76

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Palestine Works

Published on Oct 5, 2014

2014 Law Fellowship

Published on Oct 5, 2014

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