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Humanitarian Law Violations in Palestine database for additional information
The Ziada case concerns the civil proceedings against two commanders of the Israeli Defense Forces before the District Court of The Hague for their responsibility for war crimes during the military operations against Gaza in 2014. The plaintiff is a Palestinian with Dutch nationality whose family members were killed during the 2014 operations. The proceedings started in 2019 and reached the appeal stage in December 2021. On 7 December, 2021, the Dutch court of Appeal ruled in favor of the defendants, two Israeli former military officials. It held that international customary law entails that they can invoke immunity from jurisdiction. Notwithstanding considerable debate as to this matter, especially in the UK case of Jones vs Saudi Arabia and Abdul Aziz in 20, the Court of Appeal held that no to the general rule of immunity is made in respect of alleged crimes against humanity or war crimes. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal considered that it had no jurisdiction to adjudicate on Ismail Ziada’s claim.
The Nuhanovic Foundation supports this case financially and has developed a dedicated database. The database includes many documents related to the case, a link to the Dutch district court’s decision in the first stage of the case, and academic articles written at the request of the Nuhanovic Foundation in order to contribute to the legal debate about the main legal issues in the case, including the immunity of foreign state officials and access to justice.
Mr Ziada has appealed this decision with the Supreme Court of The Netherlands. The advocat-general's advice is expected in the spring / summer of 2023. The Nuhanovic Foundation will monitor and report all developments in this case.