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As a Law School, we recognise that we have a serious obligation to take what steps we can to create an environment where our students can succeed. We understand that wellbeing is an essential part of a student’s capacity to learn effectively. There are many components to wellbeing – some of which are beyond our control. But we do have it within our control to foster a sense of belonging and community, and to deepen our understanding of the factors and events that matter to our students. We know that some issues, in Australia and overseas, have a profound effect on our students’ sense of security and optimism about the future. Specifically, we know that the Israeli state’s unprecedented bombardment of Gaza and the violence carried out against the 2.3 million Palestinian people there - has left many students feeling dispirited. Many express solidarity with the people of Palestine and a desire to gain a deeper understanding of the political, historical, and legal context surrounding the current crisis.
The Palestine Project brings together academics interested in the connection between pedagogy and current events in Palestine to explore ways in which we can support our students – and one another – in understanding and responding to current issues of global injustice, in the classroom and beyond. The genesis of the Project, which began in late 2023, was Israel’s cataclysmic assault on Gaza, following the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel on October 7. To understand the actions ordered by the Israeli government, we believe it is essential to consider the ongoing siege of Gaza, the 75 year-long occupation leading to the mass expulsion and displacement of Palestinians from their homeland, and the 2024 interim ruling of the International Court of Justice. This ruling deems it plausible that the Israeli state’s actions in Gaza could amount to genocide under the Genocide Convention. The Court ordered Israel to halt and prevent genocidal actions in order to protect ‘the very existence of the Palestinian people’ in Gaza. The consequences of these events have been felt on University campuses and classrooms around the world. Issues that matter deeply to us here at Western: social impact, global justice, anti-racism, academic freedom; concern for our students’ wellbeing and sense of belonging; how we navigate the terrain of history and contemporary injustice in legal education; are all at stake.
We will be providing resources on current issues in Palestine that affect our students, and links to events hosted by the Law School and other institutions.
Resources
Welcome to The Palestine Project: An Introductory Reading List
Many of our students have expressed an eagerness to learn more about Palestine, so as a means to support our students we have compiled a set of readings that we consider key foundational texts on the topic. These readings aim to help students gain a better understanding of the historical, political and legal context, as well as the human rights implications surrounding the Palestine question.
For a more extensive reading list, this list was developed by a group of scholars at Melbourne Law School who met regularly between May and December 2024 to explore readings on international law and the question of Palestine. The reading group was convened by Haris Jamil and Michael Bader (both PhD candidates) and Adil Hasan Khan (Senior Researcher with the Laureate Program in Global Corporations and International Law) and was generously hosted by the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub, with support from LPGCIL. The list examines the persistent failures of international law to respond effectively to decades of Palestinian struggle for the right to self-determination.
Legal Updates
- Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (UN Report 16 September 2025)
- Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (UN Report, 13 March 2025)
- 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
- International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion dated 19 July 2024
- Summary of the ICJ Advisory Opinion dated 19 July 2024 by Law for Palestine
- Dr Souheir Edelbi, Chief Co-Author of the Joint Communication to the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor on the Crime of Genocide, Submitted by Law for Palestine, March 2024.
- Parliamentary submission by Dr Souheir Edelbi and Dr Sara Dehm on the Criminal Code Amendment (Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes) Bill 2024
- Amicus Curiae Observations by Law For Palestine to the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber dated 6 August 2024 (with contributions from Dr Souheir Edelbi)
Events
Please check back soon for new events to be announced.
Past Events
When: 13 August 2025, 4.30-7.30pm
Where: Darug country
Venue: Female Orphan School, Parramatta South Campus
About the Event:
Motherhood is the transmission of wisdom across time and generations.
Join Bukjeh, GARUWA and Common Ground for a screening of Motherhood in the Colony in Darug (Parramatta South Campus, Western Sydney University), with an intimate evening shared between First Nations and Palestinian communities.
The film draws parallels between the experiences of First Nations and Palestinian mothers, highlighting shared histories of dispossession, resistance and resilience. It won Best Achievement in Indigenous Filmmaking at the recent St Kilda Film Festival, and Western Sydney University is excited to share it with you.
The event will be catered and include a live panel discussion considering the themes of the film and a discussion on the role and responsibilities of Universities - as researchers, teachers, students, leaders in knowledge production - to uphold social justice for colonised peoples.
About Motherhood in the Colony
In a world shaped by violence and erasure, Motherhood in the Colony brings eight First Nations and Palestinian women together. Through intimate storytelling, the film unravels stories of colonial trauma, and mothering as an act of resistance, while inviting audiences to listen, learn, and envision a future beyond the oppressive structures of colonisation. Please use this link if you would like to host or rent the film.
For more information about the event, please contact Dr Selda Dagistanli or Dr Souheir Edelbi, Western Sydney University.
The Palestine Project: A conversation with Professor Chris Sidoti on his work on the UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry into the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.
Where: Wednesday 28 May 2025, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Venue: Conference Room 2, Level 9,WSU Parramatta City Campus - 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta
About the Event:
In March 2025 the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, presented a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report details the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence by the Israeli Security Forces since 7 October 2023. One of the report’s conclusions was that Israel had targeted civilian women and girls directly, and that these acts constitute the crime against humanity of murder and the war crime of wilful killing.
In this seminar, we heard from one of the report’s authors, Australian human rights lawyer Professor Chris Sidoti. Professor Sidoti reflected on the work of the commission and the potential impact of the report.
Chair: Dr Adil Hassan Khan
In February 2024, the School of Law at Western Sydney University launched the Palestine Project, grounded in the belief that 'wellbeing is an essential part of a student's capacity to learn effectively' and that academics and educators have it 'within our control to foster a sense of belonging and community, and to deepen our understanding of the factors and events that matter to our students'.
This presentation by Dr Souheir Edelbi, chaired by Dr Adil Hassan Khan, examines how international criminal aw education can respond to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. It shares preliminary reflections on challenging the curriculum's Eurocentric focus with the aim to create a more inclusive approach that acknowledges and critically engages with Gaza and its significance for the international legal order.
This virtual event is hosted by the International Law and the Question of Palestine Reading Group with The Laureate Program in Global Corporations and International Law.
About Dr Souheir Edelbi
Dr Souheir Edelbi is a Lecturer in the School of Law at Western Sydney University (WSU) and a convenor of the Palestine Project. She teaches in international criminal law and holds a PhD from the UNSW School of Global & Public Law.
About the Event:
The School of Law, Western Sydney University, is pleased to invite you to a conversation with Dr Jordana Silverstein (ARC Future Fellow, Melbourne Law School) and Dr Micaela Sahhar (RMIT). The discussion is moderated by Prof Chris Michaelsen (WSU School of Law).
On Tuesday, 25 February, from 11:30am-1pm the School of Law will host Dr Jordana Silverstein and Dr Micaela Sahhar in a seminar about Memory & Media Representation of Genocide in a Comparative Context. The in-person seminar will be hosted by the Palestine Project at the Landerer Moot Court (Building EO). Please join us at 11:30am for a light lunch with the seminar to follow.
Moderator: Professor Chris Michaelsen, Associate Dean (Research) School of Law, WSU
Speakers / in conversation: Dr Jordana Silverstein (University of Melbourne) and Dr Micaela Sahhar (RMIT).
Speakers:
Jordana Silverstein is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow based in the Melbourne Law School. An award-winning historian who is currently studying memories and histories of the long aftermaths of statelessness, she is the author of Anxious Histories: Narrating the Holocaust in Jewish Communities at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century (2015) and Cruel Care: A History of Children at Our Borders (2023) and is the creator and host of the 'Being Stateless' podcast (2024). Jordana is also a chief investigator, together with Madelaine Chiam (La Trobe), Jeremy Farrall (ANU), and Christopher Michaelsen (WSU) on 'Shaping International Law in Times of Global Upheaval: Australian Experiences', a Discovery Project funded by the Australian Research Council.
Micaela Sahhar (Australian-Palestinian) is a Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT and an Honorary Research Fellow at Murdoch University. She has published on themes of narrative appropriation, questions of representation and the problem of archives in settler-colonial contexts, recently in Middle East Critique (2024) and Mashriq & Mahjar (2023). Her essays, poetry, and commentary have been widely published in Australia, including in Overland, Meanjin, and Sydney Review of Books. Her first book, Find me at the Jaffa Gate: an encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family will be released by NewSouth in May 2025.
Date: 28 February 2024
Time: 12.30pm-2.30pm AEDT
Palestine has emerged as a symbol of global justice and accountability. The ongoing and unprecedented atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza have deeply affected our students, staff and the WSU community. To address this impact, the School of Law held a Muslim mentoring session in late November 2023 to provide support to affected law students. This seminar, prompted by valuable student feedback, aims to explore the implications of this crisis for legal educators and academics. Specifically, it focuses on strategies for discussing Palestine in the classroom as a matter of pedagogical practice and student engagement and well-being.
Speakers:
Dr Lana Tatour
Dr Lana Tatour is a Lecturer in Development at the School of Social Sciences, UNSW Sydney. She works on settler colonialism, indigeneity, race, citizenship, human rights and the Middle East with a focus on Palestine and Israel. Prior to joining the School of Social Sciences, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University and held visiting fellowships at the Palestinian-American Research Center, the Australian Human Rights Centre, UNSW Faculty of Law and UNSW School of Social Sciences. She is on the board of The Australian Journal of Human Rights. She is currently working on her manuscript Ambivalent Resistance: Palestinians in Israel and the Liberal Politics of Settler Colonialism and Human Rights, and on an edited volume together with Dr Ronit Lentin on Race and the Question of Palestine.
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Future Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her research areas cover Palestine, Islamophobia, race, the war on terror, and social movement activism. Dr Abdel-Fattah is also a Palestine liberation advocate, a former litigation lawyer and the multi-award-winning author of 12 books published in over 20 countries and translated into over 15 languages. She has been awarded and shortlisted for all of Australia's major literary prizes. She is a regular contributor to The New Arab.
Date: 17 April 2024
Time: Light refreshments @ 5:30pm, Seminar @ 6pm-7:30pm
Location: Conference Room 2, Level 9 Parramatta City Campus, Western Sydney University, 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta
Join us for a panel to discuss the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the findings and implications of South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel.
Hosted by the School of Law, Western Sydney University.
Chair: Dr Souheir Edelbi, Lecturer School of Law and Project Co-Convenor School of Law Palestine Project.
Panel Members: Jennifer Tierney, Executive Director MSF AustraliaRawan Arraf, Execuritve Director and Prinicpal Lawyer ACIJOttilia Maundanidze, Head of Special Projects at The Insitiute for Security Studies.
The UTS Diversities and Social Inclusion Research Group is hosting an online conference titled Erasure and Defiance: The Politics of Silence and Voice on Palestine, from 5-6 July.
Panel Moderator: Dr Souheir Edelbi, Lecturer at the School of Law and Co-Convenor of the School of Law Palestine Project
The School of Law, Western Sydney University, is pleased to invite you to a seminar presented by Professor Kevin Heller, Special Adviser on War Crimes to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Professor Heller will discuss the role of the ICC in relation to the current conflict in Gaza.
When: Thursday 18 July, 4-5pm AEST
Venue: Landerer Moot Court, Parramatta South Campus (PTA-EO.G.44)
About the Event:
In March 2021, the ICC Prosecutor announced an investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine. In November 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza, the Prosecutor confirmed that the investigation would extend to the escalation of hostilities. On 20 May 2024, the Prosecutor filed applications for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defence Yoav Galant, and three Hamas leaders. This is the first time that a head of state supported by the West has faced possible prosecution under international criminal law. The seminar will discuss the significance of the proceedings for the future development of international criminal law.
About the Speaker:
Kevin Jon Heller is Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Military Studies and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires. He is an Academic Member of Doughty Street Chambers in London and currently serves as Special Advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on War Crimes.
About The Palestine Project:
In 2023, the School of Law at WSU established the Palestine Project, as an academic space to discuss matters that profoundly affect our students and their sense of security and wellbeing. One of these matters is the Israeli state’s bombardment of Gaza and the violence carried out against the 2.3 million Palestinian people there. Our aim is to enable our students, and the broader university community, to gain deeper understanding of the political, historical, and legal context surrounding the Gaza crisis - and other local and global crises, now and into the future, that impact the vulnerable and the voiceless.
For more information about the event and the Palestine Project, please contact Professor Catherine Renshaw, Dean, School of Law, Western Sydney University.
More Information
For more information, please contact the Dean of the School of Law, Catherine Renshaw c.renshaw@westernsydney.edu.au; and the Project Conveners, Dr Maria Bhatti m.bhatti@westernsydney.edu.au and Dr Souheir Edelbi s.edelbi@westernsydney.edu.au