Authors: Tatiana de A. F. R. Cardoso Squeff* & Dulcilene Aparecida Mapelli Rodrigues**
International law is an area that is radically changing over the years due to the constant alterations of the international community. The structure of modern international law has acquiesced new interpretations of various fundamental rules that were once considered absolute, such as, the state sovereignty and the existence of rules of higher value, to mention but a few. However, a dimension of international law that has recently required a corresponding reorientation is ‘recognition’, in which one of the greatest examples is the current situation involving Palestine. After eleven years of the Advisory Opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice on the construction of a Wall in the occupied territories of Palestine, much has changed within the international community. Over time, many countries have been manifesting themselves as recognizing Palestine as a State, also confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012. However, what is the legal value of such declarations? In classic international law, states exist, that is by achieving the criteria of statehood, such declarations are not legally important for the establishment of a state’s legal capacity. The main question of this paper makes reference to the following perspective: shouldn’t international law review its parameters for recognition? After all, if declarations recognizing states are to be considered mere political expression and since they do not hold any legal importance for state’s existence, why do countries still express their opinion and insist on recognizing certain states? Is international law changing such that to (re)create another perspective on recognition? Therefore, this paper discusses these possible changes regarding recognition theories of states under international law, analyzing specially the case of Palestine in order to prove that this country is a breaking point for another reinterpretation of classic views of this area of law.
Keywords: Palestine, recognition, international law, state.
*Doctoranda en Derecho Internacional en la Universidad Federal de Río Grande do Sul (Brasil). Maestría en Derecho Público en la Universidad de Unisinos (Brasil). Investigadora visitante en la Universidad de Toronto (Canadá). Profesora de Derecho Internacional Público en UNIFIN (Brasil) y en UniRitter (Brasil), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
**Doctoranda en Derecho en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Lisboa – FDUL (Portugal). Becario CAPES. Maestría en Derecho Público en la Universidad de Unisinos (Brasil). Profesora de Derecho Público, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
