Videoconference presentation will explore the case of Israel's security fence

A video-linked dual presentation, "The International Court of Justice and Israel's Security Barrier Fence," will be presented Monday, Nov. 22, at 6 p.m. in Room G90 of Myron Taylor Hall.

Participants will be Tal Becker, legal adviser to the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations, and Pieter Bekker, who has served as senior counsel for the Palestinian territories. The video-linked dual presentation (one of the speakers will be in New York City and will participate via videoconference) will be moderated by David Wippman, associate dean of Cornell Law School. The talk is open to the public, and a reception will follow.

Becker has represented Israel in a variety of bilateral and multilateral negotiations in the United Nations, including in negotiations on the comprehensive convention against terrorism and the International Criminal Court. In addition, Becker was one of the legal advisers to the Israeli delegation during the Middle East peace negotiations and was a member of the Israeli legal team dealing with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Israel's security fence. He was assistant legal adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem and was an international law expert in the Military Advocate Generals Corps of the Israel Defense Forces. Last year, Becker served as vice chairman of the Legal Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, the first Israeli to be elected to a post of this stature in the U.N. system in more than 40 years. Becker is also a doctoral candidate at Columbia University and recipient of the Rabin Prize.

Bekker represented the Palestinians in the security barrier case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). He is the only person in the Western Hemisphere to have participated in the drafting of the Palestinian brief. Earlier in his distinguished career, Bekker served for nearly three years as a staff lawyer in the Registry of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, located in The Hague. During his ICJ tenure, he was involved in some 14 cases between sovereign states.

The presentation is co-sponsored by the Clarke Fund for the Middle East, the Jewish Law Students Association, the National Lawyers Guild and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission.