Cause Lawyering and Resistance in Israel

Abstract

This article traces the unique dynamic of cause lawyering in the context of a settler-colonial situation in which justice is framed ethnically but operates within the framework of liberal democratic institutions, such as the case of the State of Israel presents. It does so through the examination of the work of one of the most prominent Palestinian Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) engaged in legal activism: ‘Adalah – The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel’. Using interviews with legal activists and scholars in Adalah and beyond, combined with the analysis of legal documents and publications, this article offers an evaluation of the efficacy of legal resistance, addressing its advantages and limits within the Israeli scenario. This article argues that the law has an important role in this struggle; whilst its capacity to affect political change is indeed limited, it should not be dismissed outright. Sometimes the law is one of the few meaningful sources of influence, and much of the time it serves to expose the contradictions in the hegemonic system, thereby uncovering its weaknesses and forcing it to reveal its oppressive nature. Yet, since the utilization of the legal sphere for resistance is a practice found in between submission and subversion, this article analyses the ways in which this tension can be overcome.