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Rabea Eghbariah

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Rabea Eghbariah
Born
Haifa, Israel
OccupationScholar
Academic background
EducationHarvard Law School (LL.M.)

Tel Aviv University (LL.B.)

University of Haifa (B.Sc.)
Alma materHarvard Law School
Academic work
DisciplineLaw
Sub-disciplineHuman Rights
InstitutionsHarvard Law School

Rabea Eghbariah (ربيع إغبارية) is a Palestinian human rights lawyer and academic.[1][2][3] He is currently completing his J.S.D. at Harvard Law School, where he focuses on the socio-legal aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[1][4][5] In an article called "The Ongoing Nakba: Towards a Legal Framework for Palestine," he proposed a new way of understanding the lives of Palestinians under Israeli rule. The article was censored by elite American universities.[6]

Education

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Eghbariah earned his B.Sc. from the University of Haifa in 2012. He then attended Tel Aviv University, where he earned an LL.B. in 2015.[7] He began his doctoral studies for his J.S.D. at Harvard Law School in 2019 and has since completed the requirements for his LL.M.[8]

Career

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Eghbariah worked as an attorney at Adalah, where he argued civil and political rights cases involving Palestinians.[9][10][11][12]

The Israeli Criminalization of Foraging (za'atar and akkoub)

In January 2019, Adalah initiated a legal correspondence with the Attorney General, Minister of Environmental Protection, State Prosecutor, and NPA arguing against the ban and demanding lifting the criminalization of za'atar, akkoub, and maramiya.[13] Research by Eghbariah found that in all criminal cases presented before Israeli courts involving za'atar and akkoub, defendants were Palestinian citizens of Israel.[14] A few months later, the Minister asked the NPA to re-evaluate its policy. The NPA later (around August 2019) publicly declared they are reformulating their enforcement and prosecutorial policy to allow limited foraging.

Cyber Unit

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On November 26, 2019, Eghbairah filed a case with Fady Khoury against the Israel government’s Cyber Unit, which monitors and censors social media content.[15]

In 2021, Eghbariah commented following the Israeli Supreme Court authorized Cyber Unit to continue to operate:

"The Israeli Supreme Court has just authorized the state to continue to use its Cyber Unit to conduct quasi-judicial censorship proceedings in cooperation with private corporations, without allowing social media users to defend their rights or even to know that the state has been involved in removing their online content.”[16]

Family reunification

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In 2022, Eghbariah, Dr. Hassan Jabareen, and Adi Mansour filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court challenging a law that bans Palestinian family reunification. The ban would not have even past in apartheid South Africa.[17] Eghbariah argued before the Court on behalf of the petitioners. He emphasized that the “law creates two separate legal tracks, based on ethno-national identity; one, mainly for Jewish-Israeli citizens and the other for Palestinian citizens and residents of the state who wish to unite with their spouses who live in the Occupied West Bank.”[18]

The Ongoing Nabka

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On October 15, 2023, online editors working on behalf of the Harvard Law Review contacted Eghbariah, asking him to write a piece for the online blog.[19][20][21] The essay, titled "The Ongoing Nakba: Towards a Legal Framework for Palestine," would have been the first piece by a Palestinian author published by the Harvard Law Review.[20] After writing and submitting the essay in early November 2023, the Harvard Law Review met and voted to stop publication of the article.[22][23][24][25] While no explanation was given, the Harvard Law Review posted a statement:

"Like every academic journal, the Harvard Law Review has rigorous editorial processes governing how it solicits, evaluates, and determines when and whether to publish a piece. An intrinsic feature of these internal processes is the confidentiality of our 104 editors’ perspectives and deliberations. Last week, the full body met and deliberated over whether to publish a particular Blog piece that had been solicited by two editors. A substantial majority voted not to proceed with publication."

— Harvard Law Review, A Note, [26]

The essay was subsequently published in The Nation.[27][28]

Reaction

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Multiple editors of the Harvard Law Review signed a statement dissenting from the decision not to publish the article.[29] They said:

"Days before the finalized piece was to be posted, at a time when the Law Review was facing a public intimidation and harassment campaign, the journal’s leadership intervened to stop publication. The body of editors—none of whom are Palestinian—voted to sustain that decision. We are unaware of any other solicited piece that has been revoked by the Law Review in this way. This unprecedented decision threatens academic freedom and perpetuates the suppression of Palestinian voices. We dissent."

— Over 25 Editors of the Harvard Law Review, Harvard Law Review Dissenting Editors’ Statement, [30]

Several law professors signed an open letter expressing concern over the potential impact on academic freedom of refusing to publish the essay.[31][32]

Aftermath

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On June 3, 2024, the Columbia Law Review (CLR) published an expanded version of Eghbariah's original essay, titled "Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept." The article aimed at creating an international legal framework for the Nakba similar to genocide and apartheid.[33] Within hours, the CLR board of directors took the CLR website offline.[34][35] Subsequently, "Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept" was allowed to appear in the Columbia Law Review[36] (Vol. 124, May 2024, No. 4). CLR Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept

References

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  1. ^ a b "Rabea Eghbariah". Harvard Law School. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  2. ^ "Jumana Manna and Rabea Eghbariah in Conversation". MoMA PS1. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  3. ^ Eghbariah, Rabea (2023-11-03). "Opinion | An Unarmed Teen Was Shot During a Cease-Fire. Israel Was Never Held to Account". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  4. ^ "The Palestine Exception: A Panel on Repression and Resistance (Bell Collective Conference)". Harvard Law School. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  5. ^ "Harvard Law Review bans article on Israeli genocide in Gaza". Middle East Monitor.
  6. ^ Guyer, Jonathan (9 Jun 2024). "Why are America's elite universities so afraid of this scholar's paper?". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Following Adalah intervention: Israel reformulating ban on harvesting wild herbs used in - Adalah". www.adalah.org. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  8. ^ "Staff and Board - Adalah". www.adalah.org. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  9. ^ "Israeli prosecutor reveals: Requests for jail without bail until end of trial for Facebook - Adalah". www.adalah.org. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  10. ^ "Rabea Eghbariah". rpl.hds.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  11. ^ "Introducing Rabea Eghbariah, 2023 FMEP Fellow". Foundation for Middle East Peace. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  12. ^ "The Terrorism Smear: Israel's Move to Shut Down Palestinian Human Rights Work". Foundation for Middle East Peace. 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  13. ^ Following Adalah intervention: Israel reformulating ban on harvesting wild herbs used in traditional Palestinian cuisine, Retrieved 2024-06-30
  14. ^ The Struggle for Za’atar and Akkoub: Israeli Nature Protection Laws and the Criminalization of Palestinian Herb-Picking Culture, Retrieved 2024-06-30
  15. ^ Israel State Attorney claims censorship of social media content, following Cyber Unit requests, isn't an 'exercise of gov’t authority', Retrieved 2024-06-30
  16. ^ Israeli Supreme Court green lights Israel's 'Cyber Unit' that works with social media giants to censor user content, Retrieved 2024-06-30
  17. ^ Israel’s ban on Palestinian family unification would not have passed even in apartheid South Africa. (2023). Retrieved 2024-06-30
  18. ^ The Israeli Supreme Court held a hearing on 9 petitions challenging the ban on Palestinian family. Retrieved 2024-06-30
  19. ^ "Harvard Law Review Faces Internal Turmoil After Vote to Block Piece by Palestinian Scholar | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  20. ^ a b Lennard, Natasha (2023-11-22). "Harvard Law Review Editors Vote to Kill Article About Genocide in Gaza". The Intercept. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  21. ^ Caron, Paul. "Harvard Law Review Spikes Commissioned Article On Genocide In Gaza".
  22. ^ "The Nation Publishes Gaza Genocide Article Killed by Harvard Law Review | Common Dreams". www.commondreams.org. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  23. ^ Tait, Robert (2023-11-22). "Harvard journal accused of censoring article alleging genocide in Gaza". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  24. ^ "Some Thoughts About the Latest Law Review Imbroglio".
  25. ^ Lennard, Natasha (2023-11-22). "Harvard Law Review Editors Vote to Kill Article About Genocide in Gaza". The Intercept. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  26. ^ "A Note". Harvard Law Review. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  27. ^ Eghbariah, Rabea (2023-11-22). "The "Harvard Law Review" Refused to Run This Piece About Genocide in Gaza". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  28. ^ "Legal Uprising: Over 1700 Legal Minds Urge American Bar Association to Shield Palestine Advocates from Blackballing and Harassment". CODEPINK - Women for Peace. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  29. ^ "Harvard Law Review Dissenting Editors' Statement". docs.google.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  30. ^ "Harvard Law Review Dissenting Editors' Statement". docs.google.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  31. ^ "Harvard Law Review Dissenting Editors' Statement".
  32. ^ "Open Statement by University Law Teachers on Academic Freedom". Opinio Juris. 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  33. ^ Eghbariah, Rabea (May 2024). "Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept" (PDF). Columbia Law Review. 124 (4): 887–992. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-06-05. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  34. ^ Thakker, Natasha Lennard, Prem (2024-06-04). "Columbia Law Review Refused to Take Down Article on Palestine, So Its Board of Directors Nuked the Whole Website". The Intercept. Retrieved 2024-06-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ Jake Offenhartz (June 5, 2024). "After publishing an article critical of Israel, Columbia Law Review's website is shut down by board". Associated Press.
  36. ^ https://www.columbialawreview.org/content/toward-nakba-as-a-legal-concept/
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