Law Students' Conferences
Eleventh Annual Law Students’ Conference
On 6-8 October 2016, Adalah held this 3-day event at Talitha Kumi in Beit Jala on the subject of “50 Years of Occupation and Deprivation of Liberties.” 53 students attended the conference, including 32 women, 21 men, among whom were 12 students from East Jerusalem and the wider West Bank (in cooperation with Al Quds University). Program highlights were: expert panels on legal questions including “The impact of the continued occupation on the decisions of the Supreme Court” and “The limits of political expression”; practical workshops on international law and the Occupation, political participation in the context of the Anti-Terror Law, and freedom of expression and social media; and a tour of key locations in Jerusalem led by Adalah and the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem.
Tenth Annual Law Students’ Conference
In October 2015, Adalah held its 10th annual law students’ camp, a three-day conference bringing together over 50 Palestinian law students in Israel to discuss key human rights issues facing Palestinians in Israel and the OPT. Most of these human rights concerns are not discussed in Israeli law schools. For the 10th year of this conference, Adalah decided to focus on issues of impunity concerning the killing of civilians during the 2014 Gaza War and in October 2000 (15th Anniversary), and Israel’s “land grab” policies in Jerusalem. The law students participated in several workshops relevant to cause-lawyers including legal, political and ethical dilemmas, tort damages for discrimination, representing detained protestors, and how to build a case. The conference also brought together several former Adalah staff members and stagaires to lead sessions with the law students.
See Program and Photos.
Ninth Annual Law Students’ Conference
In 10/14, 62 law students attended Adalah’s 3-day conference held in Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam near Jerusalem. Students participated in workshops on IHL; learned about freedom of expression rights, including on social media; were taught skills to represent youth protestors and detainees; and more. Keynote speakers included Supreme Court Justice Salim Jubran and Ha'aretz journalist Amira Hass, who spoke about her coverage of the Gaza War during the summer of 2014. Adalah Board members and Attorneys with Adalah and other HR partner organizations including PCATI, ACRI, Kav L’Oved and others led workshops and discussions. Participants rated the conference highly and gave positive feedback on the lectures and topics covered. One participant stated that the conference “met my expectations in terms of introducing me to legal professionals in varying legal specialties and to different fields of the law.”
See the Program | Photos
Eighth Annual Law Students’ Conference: “Arab Citizens and Discriminatory Laws”
On 19-21 September 2013, Adalah held its 8th annual Arab law students’ camp for 60 student participants who study at law schools throughout Israel. The title of this year’s event was "Arab Citizens and Discriminatory Laws," aiming to inform Arab law students about legal issues relevant to them that are not generally addressed in their law school courses, and to raise their awareness about human rights in Israel and in the OPT. The conference began with a field trip to the Naqab, where the students visited a number of unrecognized and recently-recognized Arab Bedouin villages, and learned about Prawer Plan. It also included panel discussions on the discriminatory legislation and the status of Palestinians in Israel, and perspectives on the struggle to end discrimination and racism against the minority. The panel discussions also focused on the participants’ roles as law students and future lawyers in their society’s struggle against discrimination and racism. Another highlight of the conference was a human rights bazaar, at which civil society organizations presented their goals, work, and publications, and spoke to the students about volunteer and career opportunities. The students also took part in workshops, in which they discussed the effects of discriminatory laws on the lives of Arab citizens, laws which span the fields of land and planning, discrimination in socio-economic rights, and the ‘Jewish nature’ of the state and its impact on the identity and status of Arab citizens.
See full conference program and photos.
Seventh Annual Law Students' Conference: “Students’ Rights on Campus”
October 2012
70 legal students from colleges and universities across the country gathered on October 11th for three days at Adalah’s 7th Annual Law Students’ Conference, to learn about Palestinian rights in Israel with a focus on “Students’ Rights on Campus.” The conference opened with a field tour of the village Jisr al-Zarqa, a coastal town in the Haifa District, one of the poorest Palestinian towns in Israel. The students visited a number of locations in the village, including the barrier constructed between Jisr al-Zarqa and Caesarea. The tour continued with a visit to destroyed villages in the Carmel Mountains - Jaba’, Ein Ghazal, and Ijzam – where the students learned about the process of displacement in 1948 and its consequences for the local Palestinian community. In addition to the tour, the conference, held in the Eden Inn in Zamarin (Zichron Yaakov), incorporated lectures and seminars presented by leading human rights lawyers and academics. Over a dozen associations and non-profit organizations took part in a “Human Rights Fair,” presenting their human rights work to the students and discussing the challenges and opportunities they face, and distributed materials related to their activities.
Conference Program – “Rights on Campus” (PDF)
Sixth Annual Law Students Conference: "Legal Tools For Achieving Social Justice"
October 2011
Adalah welcomed 70 law students and 30 lawyers, academics and activists to Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salaam for a three day conference on employing legal tools for social justice in 10/11. The event opened with a field tour of the unrecognized Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab led by Adalah’s staff. The students met with Sidreh, an economic empowerment NGO for Arab Bedouin women, and heard from community leaders in the villages of Abu Tulul and Abu Qurinat about key issues facing the Arab Bedouin, including the Prawer Plan. For most students, this tour marked the first time that they had visited the Naqab and seen the unrecognized villages.
The next two days of the conference included four panel discussions on law, social justice, and the Arab minority led by leading human rights lawyers and academics in Israel. Students also participated in practitioner-led legal workshops on gender and the law, the right to housing, the right to protest, and the right to education – all headed by Adalah's lawyers. The conference also included a screening, with the Director, of The Law in These Parts, an award-winning documentary about the military legal system in the OPT. The students also had the opportunity to participate in a human rights fair, which was joined by human rights and social change organizations, Kayan, Mada al-Carmel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the Israel Cancer Association, Al-Manarah Association, Aswat, PCATI, Gisha, Women Against Violence, and Maan.
Fifth Annual Law Students’ Conference: “The Right to Protest”
October 2010
In 10/10, Adalah held its 5th Annual Arab Law Students’ Conference at Wahat al- Salaam/Neve Shalom. The 3-day event, entitled “The Right to Protest,” was attended by 60 Arab law students, who took part in a series of workshops and legal lectures led by prominent legal academics, lawyers and human rights activists. The conference began with a tour of East Jerusalem. A panel discussion on the events of October 2000 and their memorialization was also held. The concept behind the conferences is to provide Arab law students with the largely absent perspective of human rights lawyering as members of the Arab minority within a discriminatory legal system. The students reacted enthusiastically to the conference, and expressed great interest in helping plan for next year’s event.
Fourth Annual Law Students’ Conference
October 2009
In 10/09, Adalah held its 4th Annual Law Students’ Conference with the theme of "The Absence of Justice and State Accountability". Over 70 law students attended the conference from law colleges and universities around Israel, and Al Quds University in Abu Dis, Jerusalem. The participants were evenly divided between men and women. 25 human rights lawyers, academics and activists spoke and ran workshops at the event, including Prof. Michael Karayanni (Hebrew University), Adv. Sari Bashi (Gisha), Dr. Neta Ziv (Tel Aviv University), and Adv. Auni Banna (ACRI). The three-day event featured a field tour of the Arab- Jewish mixed cities of Led (Lod) and Ramle. It also included workshops, lectures and screenings of documentaries. Workshop topics included the torture of detainees, the Goldstone Report, military and national service, discriminatory legislation, disabled people’s rights, and employees' rights.
Third Annual Law Students’ Conference, “Law in Action in the Field of Human Rights”
October 2008
In 10/08, Adalah held its 3rd Annual Law Students’ Conference. The conference, which was attended by 80 Arab law students from universities and colleges in Israel and Al Quds University, took place at Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salaam over three days. The conference’s theme was “Law in Action in the Field of Human Rights”. The main subjects discussed were the Separation Wall, the October 2000 killings and the housing crisis for Palestinian citizens of Israel in the mixed cities. The students participated in a tour of the Wall in the Jerusalem area, and in panel discussions. They also participated in small group legal workshops on religious rights, prisoners’ rights, the unrecognized Arab Bedouin villages, human rights under occupation and the rights of people with special needs and disabilities.
A Human Rights Fair held during the conference allowed students to learn about the work of other Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations. Adalah also presented a photo exhibit on the legal developments of the October 2000 case, which were then analyzed in a panel discussion. On the final day, law school legal clinic advisors and students who participated in legal clinics spoke about their experiences of representation and working with community organizations. External speakers included Dr. Shlomo Cohen, the former chair of the Israel Bar Association, Professor Ronen Shamir, Tel Aviv University, Attorney Munir Nusseibeh from Al Quds University, and Ronit Harmati-Elfren, Director of Legal Clinics at Haifa University.
Second Annual Law Students' Conference: Legal Strategies in Preparing Cases Before the Courts
Givat Haviva, September 2007
Adalah's second annual law students' conference was held over three days and was attended by around 100 Arab law students. Judge Rayek Jarjoura gave the keynote speech on "Legal Strategies in Building Cases from the Viewpoint of the Courts." The opening lecture was given by Adalah's General Director Attorney Hassan Jabareen on "Legal Strategies for Preparing Cases before the Supreme Court". Activities included three discussion panels on legal strategies in building criminal cases, legal strategies in the constitutional and administrative fields, local and international legal strategies in cases relating to the Occupation, and legal strategies in building cases from the viewpoint of the courts. Invited speakers included lawyers working in human rights organizations, the Public Defender's Office and the Attorney General's Office, and legal academics. On the final day, the students were divided into groups to attend a number of workshops on land, planning and building cases, strategies for genderizing cases, workers' rights cases and political prisoners' cases. The conference program also included recreational and cultural breaks, including a screening of the film Michel Khleifi film, "Fertile Memory". The conference was financed by the European Union.
Conference program
Photographs from the conference
Articles on the conference that appeared in the Kol al-Arab newspaper
First Law and Human Rights Conference for Arab Law Students
Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam, September 2006
Adalah hosted this conference with the goal of raising awareness among Arab law students of human rights issues and to provide them with the necessary professional tools in order to motivate them and allow them to examine the legal strategies used for work in this field. The conference was attended by 104 Arab law students from all over Israel. The keynote lecture was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran on the subject of serving the Arab public, and the opening lectures was given on cause lawyering. Activities included three main panel discussions on human rights legal advocacy; integrating human rights language into other fields of law; and the media, the law and human rights with lawyers from human rights. Invited lawyers from human rights organizations, law school clinics as well as journalists participated in the panels. Students attended several workshops focusing on the law, women and social rights; land rights; and criminal law and political prisoners. The conference program also included recreational and cultural breaks, including comedy sketches and films. The conference was financed by the European Union.
Slideshow from the conference
