Human rights in Israel were the topic of a conference held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with the Minerva Center for Human Rights on December 6th and 7th 2006.

The biennial event consisted of a comprehensive programme which was made up of panels about various aspects of the human rights issue.

The introducing keynote address was given by Prof. Martin Scheinin, director of the Institute for Human Rights at the Åbo Akademi University in Finland and Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the topic of “Terrorism and Human Rights”. Prof. Scheinin pointed out the danger of misusing the term “terrorism” and emphasised the necessity of finding a general definition. He personally favours a very narrow definition of the word, applying it only to attacks against civilians.

Furthermore, he addressed the issue of violation of human rights in the fight against terrorism. A lively discussion erupted following his lecture on the question of whether to protect human rights while “the other side” does not do so. The “ticking bomb” was given as an example for this situation: the term is used for people who knowingly have information on planned terrorist attacks. If prosecutors could acquire this information by torture innocent lives might possibly be saved. Prof. Scheinin pointed out that this scenario was not realistic and that in his opinion there was no situation that justified torture.

The second day of the conference prompted discussions as well: the panels dealt with topics such as the Palestinian-Arab minority in the Jewish-democratic state, migrants and refugees in Israel and the impact of the occupation on human rights in Israel.

The two lawyers Michael Kagan and Anat Ben Dor pointed to the problematic situation of Sudanese refugees in Israel: Israel does not recognize them as refugees due to its belligerency with Sudan. Kagan advised the Israeli government to take the behaviour of Great Britain during World War II as an example. The country absorbed 65.000 German-Jewish refugees while being at war with Germany.

Prof. Kenneth Mann and Dr. Sari Bashi discussed Israel’s responsibilities after its withdrawal from Gaza. Their analysis reached the conclusion that Israel factually still held control over the Gaza Strip and should therefore be responsible for it to some extent.

The participants as well as the lecturers of this well-attended conference expressed their contentment about the stimulating discussions.