THE GRASS IS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE: FINDING A REMEDY FOR PALESTINIAN FARMERS FOR HARMS CREATED BY THE ISRAELI SECURITY WALL

Note Written By: Omar Ghani

Despite the various positions and arguments surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it should be conceded that one group in particular has suffered harms and injuries that should be remedied. From the confiscation of Palestinian occupied lands to the Intifadas, many Palestinian farmers have suffered economic hardships due to this conflict. Their despondent circumstances have worsened since the construction of the Israeli Security Wall. Ideological debates and conversations regarding human rights may be important, but can lead to abstracting human lives. Thus, the conversations surrounding the impact of this conflict are causing the neglect of actual circumstances and human lives these conversations purport to consider. Palestinian farmers are a subset of a population who have greatly suffered and are left without a remedy to rectify their harms.

Because the international community seeks peace in this conflict, a mechanism or program should be established to compensate Palestinian farmers for the harms they have suffered. This Note first examines the harms that Palestinian farmers have suffered and concludes that their harms require a specific program to ensure they are not susceptible to suffering the same harms repeatedly. Next, it establishes that procedural justice is a theory that should be the foremost mechanism or program in compensating these farmers. With this objective in mind, we can then evaluate international and domestic models that implement judicial or extrajudicial schemes and conclude that domestic models and extrajudicial programs are the most effective method to ensure procedural justice for Palestinian farmers. Finally, this Note provides an exemplary new model for Palestinian farmers that would justly compensate Palestinian farmers by exploring the components and aspects of previous systems that have been proven to uphold procedural justice.

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