Steven E. Zipperstein, at The Blogs

Steven E. Zipperstein

Aug 11, 2025, 7:55 AM

The Gaza genocide claim fails the test of law and fact

The case against Israel does not meet the key legal criteria of intent and scope, nor is there a threat to the Gaza population's overall survival

Mar 8, 2025, 10:29 AM

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Dear UNRWA, citizens of Palestine can’t also be Palestinian refugees

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, poses with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

If the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are an independent state, what is the status of someone born in Ramallah after '49?

Aug 22, 2024, 12:49 PM

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How the Palestinians can help themselves achieve statehood

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas holds a placard showing maps of (L to R) historical Palestine, the 1947 United Nations partition plan on Palestine, the 1948-1967 borders between the Palestinian territories and Israel, and a current map of the Palestinian territories without Israeli-annexed areas and settlements, as he attends an Arab League emergency meeting discussing the US-brokered proposal for a settlement of the Middle East conflict at the league headquarters in Cairo on February 1, 2020. (Khaled DESOUKI/ AFP/ File)

Palestinian leadership needs to give Israelis reason to believe its constituents would make good neighbors, living side-by-side in peace

Jan 31, 2024, 3:17 PM

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What would the Palestinian state of a two-state solution look like?

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Joe Biden shake hands in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, July 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

If we knew the answers to these 10 questions, we'd know whether this apparent panacea would truly advance the cause of peace

Sep 4, 2022, 11:10 AM

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Back when Palestinians insisted there’s no such place as Palestine

London Conference, St. James' Palace, February 1939. Palestinian delegates (foreground), left to right: Fu'ad Saba, Yaqub Al-Ghussein, Musa Alami, Amin Tamimi, Jamal Al-Husseini, Awni Abd al-Hadi, George Antonious, and Alfred Roch. Facing the Palestinians are the British, with Sir Neville Chamberlain presiding. (PD via Wikipedia Commons)

Early 20th century legal positions claiming the territory was part of Syria, and later Jordan, undermine the 21st century Palestinian claim to statehood

Jul 18, 2022, 10:59 AM

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J Street’s reaction to Lapid as prime minister: Crickets

Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid speaks during a joint press conference with US president Joe Biden, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2022. (Mandel Ngan / AFP)

Israel finally has a moderate centrist at the helm who supports the two-state solution. Why isn't the progressive US Jewish organization applauding?

May 14, 2022, 10:47 PM

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The Abu Akleh tragedy: Ask the FBI to investigate

A Palestinian man drawing a mural of Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed during a raid of Israeli security forces in Jenin, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 14, 2022. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The US agency is renowned for its capabilities in ballistics analysis and shooting investigations

Jan 9, 2022, 3:19 PM

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How not to make the case for Palestinian statehood

Jerusalem Grand Mufti. Haj Amin el-Husseini, with attendants, leaving the offices of the Palestine Royal Commission (Library of Congress)

With a long history of rejecting offers, making a legal case for sovereignty is a losing battle. The conflict isn't a legal dispute, it's an inherently political one

Jun 11, 2020, 2:32 PM

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How to cancel annexation? Make a win-win deal that’s better

For example, Jordan could grant a 20 year lease to let Israeli farmers keep working the fields at Naharayim. PHOTO: The Jordan river can be seen in the Jordan valley area called Naharayim, October 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The Palestinians, regional states and the West could make these moves in a quid pro quo that improves the position of everyone involved

Jun 14, 2016, 4:14 PM

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The New York Times, Ben Rhodes and the Iran nuclear deal

Hasan Rouhani, center, poses before a large portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, the day after being elected to Iran's presidency, on June 15, 2013 (Photo credit: AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The newspaper of record consistently bought into the fallacy that Iran had shifted towards moderation

About Me

Steven E. Zipperstein is a former US federal prosecutor and a professor at UCLA, where he is also the Director of the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. The views expressed here are his own.