Israel & Palestine Resources

From the plans to found a Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine to decades of peace treaties, the United Nations has played an active role in directing and litigating what are now the States of Israel and Palestine. 

Notable UN resolutions and treaties include the 1947 Partition Plan for Palestine, the 1978 Camp David Accords between the State of Israel and Egypt, and the Oslo Accords between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The United Nations also enforces International Law, as codified in treaties such as the Geneva Conventions, and adjudicates disputes between member nations through the International Court of Justice.

For more information about International Law, please visit the research guides from the Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York and the Peace Palace Library in The Hague.

Pending cases before the International Court of Justice: 

• Relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem (Palestine v. United States of America) (2018)

• Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (2023)

• Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) (2024)

The governance of the occupied Palestinian Territories is split between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the State of Israel. For more information about the current governance structure, we recommend the Council on Foreign Relations 2024 article "Who Governs the Palestinians?"

In accordance with the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority was formed as an interim government to represent Palestinians living in the occupied territories. The Palestinian Authority drafted the Basic Law as a proposed constitution in 2002 with further ammendments made in 2003. Mahmoud Abbas has held the positions of chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization since 2005, President of the State of Palestine since 2006, and chairman of the Fatah party since 2009. The Palestinian Authority has not held presidential or parliamentary elections since 2006. 

Following the 2006 electoral victory of Hamas and subsequent blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority has maintained their limited power in the West Bank while Hamas has come to power in the Gaza Strip.

The State of Israel is governed as a parliamentary democracy with no written constitution. In place of a constitution, the Knesset (Israeli legislature) has passed a series of "Basic Laws" through supermajority. Included below are the texts of Basic Laws of Israel, the Israeli Declaration of Independence, and the Law of Return, which grants non-Israeli Jews the right to Israeli citizenship. 

Since 2009. the State of Israel has has been governed by a coalition government led by the right-wing Likud party. Benjamin Netanyahu, the chairman of the Likud party, held the position of Prime Minister of Israel between 2009-2021 and again 2022-present.