In May 2006 we co-organised a three-day conference on 'Occupations and Withdrawals: Japan, Europe, Palestine and Iraq'. It brought together international lawyers, historians, economists and political scientists to look at the historic experiences of Japan and Europe after the Second World War, and used these examples to comment on and better understand the situation in the Middle East today-specifically in Israel/Palestine and in Iraq.

This three-day conference was jointly organised with the Sir Joseph Hotung Programme on Law, Human Rights and Peace building in the Middle East, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London).

This was a global event that brought together scholars from four continents and seven countries. Leading experts in the fields of law, political science and history looked at the historic experiences of Japan and Europe after the Second World War, and used these examples to comment on and better understand the situation in the Middle East today-specifically in Israel/Palestine and in Iraq.

Perhaps its greatest legacy was in establishing just what can be learned from past experiences that could potentially allow for greater understanding. The experiences of Japan and Europe after 1945 provided the greatest test cases of how countries need to be politically, legally and economically shaped while under occupation by a foreign power. What is happening in the Middle East now can only be improved through an understanding of these earlier cases, and this conference was instrumental in helping to understand these variables.

Conference Programme

Day One 11 May 2006

Session One: The Evolution of the Doctrine of Occupation
'International Law and Occupation up to World War II' (Professor Eyal Benvenisti, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University)
'British Plans for the Occupation of Palestine during and after the Second World War' (Corelli Barnett CBE, Churchill College, Cambridge)
'Occupation and Liberation: Evolution of a Concept' (Professor Bernard Wasserstein, Department of History, University of Chicago)

Session Two: The Japanese Experience
'The Legal Experience of the Occupation of Japan' (Professor Nisuke Ando, Department of Law, Doshisha University)
'The Historical Experience of Japan as an Occupied Nation' (Dr Toshihiro Minohara, Oxford University)

Day Two 12 May 2006

Session One: Palestine Before and After the Second World War
'The International System and Palestine before 1947' (Dr William Bain, Department of International Politics, University of Wales)
'Creation of the State of Israel and the Status of Palestine' (Dr Yuval Shany, Hebrew University)
'The Palestinian Perspective' (Charles Shamas, the MATTIN Group)

Session Two: Views of Previously Occupied Powers on Current Occupation
US Views on Japan as a Model for Reconstruction of Iraq' (Dr Phillips O'Brien, University of Glasgow)

Session Three: How Israel Became an Occupying Power
'Legal Aspects of Evolution of Israeli Policies in the Occupied Territories' (Professor David Kretzmer Faculty of Law, Hebrew University)
'The Applicability of International Human Rights Law to Foreign Territorial Occupation' (Dr Ralph Wilde, Faculty of Law, University College London)

Session Four: The German Experience after World War II
'The Germany Economic Experience after the Second World War' (Professor Ray Stokes, Department of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow)
'Laws of War and Social Reconstruction of Germany during the Occupation' (Professor Dr Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg, Europa-Universitat Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))

Day Three 13 May 2006

Session one: Iraq
'Iraq and the Immediate Obligations of Occupying Powers' (Professor Charles Garraway, Royal Institute of International Affairs)
'US Perspectives on its International Legal Obligations in Iraq' Professor Michael Schmitt (George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmish Partenkirchen, Germany)
'Lessons to be Drawn from Iraq' (Professor Françoise Hampson, Department of Law, University of Essex)

Session two: Contemporary Palestine
'Human Proportions: Human Rights, Humanitarian Law, Proportionality and the Strutcture of Occupation' (Dr Aeyal Gross, University of Tel Aviv)
'The Gaza Experience and the West Bank' (Raja Shehadeh, human rights lawyer, Ramallah)
'International Law and the Withdrawal' (Professor Iain Scobbie School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)

Session three: Jerusalem
'Jerusalem - Past, Present and Future' (Professor Ruth Lapidoth, Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
'Palestinian Expectations' (Dr. Nazmi Al Ju'beh Riwaq - Center for Architectural Conservation, Ramallah)

Session four: Current Occupations: Concluding Remarks
'Transformative Military Occupation: Applying the Laws of War and Human Rights' (Professor Adam Roberts Baillol College, Oxford
'Iraqi Perspectives' (John Phelps Chief, US Army Defense Appellate Division)

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the Japan Foundation, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, the Lieber Society, The British Academy, the Sir Joseph Hotung Programme on Law, Human Rights and Peace Building in the Middle East and the Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow for their sponsorships.

First published: 18 November 2005

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