Howard Grief
Howard Grief (19 April 1940 - 2 June 2013) was a Jerusalem-based attorney and notary born in Montreal, Canada. He served as the adviser on Israel under international law to Yuval Ne'eman while Ne'eman was the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure in the Yitzhak Shamir Government. He has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to annul the Oslo Accords in 1999, and reportedly claimed he was the first to advance the thesis that de jure sovereignty over all of Palestine was devolved upon the Jewish People at the 1920 San Remo Peace conference. He is the author of the book The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law published in 2008, as well as of numerous articles mainly published in the Ariel Center for Policy Research's journal Nativ.
Biography
Howard Grief was born and educated in Montreal, Canada where he attended and graduated from Baron Byng High School, McGill University, and McGill Law School, obtaining degrees in Arts and Law. He became a member of the Bar of Quebec in 1966 and was a self-employed practicing attorney for 23 years, principally in the fields of civil and commercial law.[1]
In August 1989, Grief emigrated to Israel together with his Jerusalem-born wife and their two sons. In May 1991, he was admitted to the Israel Bar Association and subsequently became a notary. In December 1991, he was formally appointed by Yuval Ne'eman, then Minister of Energy and Infrastructure in the Yitzhak Shamir Government, to be his legal adviser in international law on matters pertaining to the Land of Israel.[2]
Main legal thesis
Grief is the author of the "Petition to Annul the Interim Agreement" presented to Israel's Supreme Court in 1999, claiming that the Agreements between Israel and the PLO are illegal both under constitutional and criminal Israeli law. The Supreme Court called the petition "a political position" and did not deal with it.[3]
Grief reportedly claimed that he was the first to draw attention to the wider scope of the 1920 San Remo conference,[4] when he formulated the thesis that de jure sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel (Palestine) was vested in the Jewish People as a result of the reference to the Balfour Declaration, adopted at the San Remo Conference in April 1920.[5] Grief maintains that Israeli politicians and jurists including the authors of the 2012 Levy Report have failed to grasp the full importance of the "San Remo Resolution",[4] a term he coined to clarify his position, according to the Algemeiner.[6]
Grief laid out his thesis in his 2008 book, The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law.[7] John Quigley, in his book The Statehood of Palestine, comes to the conclusion that Grief's position which excludes "the Arab inhabitants of the country at the time" from sovereignty on the basis of the Balfour Declaration is difficult to maintain given that the declaration "specifically references the rights of the population of Palestine in its entirety".[8]
Grief has authored several articles on legal topics that have appeared in the Hebrew language journal, Nativ, published by the Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR).[9]
Publications
- Article 80 and the UN Recognition of a “Palestinian State”, September 2011, algemeiner.com
- The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law. Mazo Publishers, 2008 ISBN 978-965-7344-52-1 Google books
- Security Council Resolution 242: A Violation of Law and a Pathway to Disaster. ACPR Publications, 2008
- The Question of the Applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention on Occupation to Judea, Samaria and Gaza. NATIV, 2008
- The Howard Grief Eretz-Israel letters to Meir Shamgar, 2005-2007: On Eretz-Israel and Israeli Constitutional Law (with Yoel Lerner). Office for Israeli Constitutional Law, 2007
- David Ben-Gurion’s Forgotten 1948 Land of Israel Proclamation for the Annexation of Judea and Samaria, NATIV, Vol.20/2007
- The Transfer of Jews Under Prime Minister Sharon's Unilateral Disengagement Plan, ACPR Publications, 2005
- The Origin of the Occupation Myth, NATIV, Vol.8/2005
- Legal Rights and Title of Sovereignty of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel and Palestine under International Law, NATIV, Vol.2/2004
- Why Military Limitations on a "Palestinian" State Will Fail: A Legal Assessment. Zmora-Bitan Publishers and ACPR Publishers, 2001
- A Petition to Annul the Interim Agreement. ACPR Publications, 1999
- The illegality of the Sharm e-Sheikh memorandum under Israeli law. ACPR Publications, 1999
- Why Israel Needs an Independent Counsel. Sanhedrin Institute, 1998
External links
References
- ↑ "Howard Grief, 73, staunch fighter for land of Israel". Jewish Tribune.
- ↑ Grief, Howard. "Legal Rights and Title of Sovereignty of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel and Palestine under International Law" (PDF).
- ↑ "Howard Grief". Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR). Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- 1 2 Parsons, David (21 August 2012). "Making the case: Howard Grief proves Israel is legally a Jewish state with the San Remo resolution of 1920.". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ↑ Yonah, Tamar (27 November 2008). "'Land for Peace? Peace for Peace'". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ↑ "Howard Grief on Algemeiner".
- ↑ Grief, Howard (2008). The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law. Jerusalem: Mazo. ISBN 9789657344521.
- ↑ John Quigley. The Statehood of Palestine. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-139-49124-2. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ↑ "Howard Grief on Nativ".