George Bisharat (born 1954) is an American professor of law and frequent commentator on current events in the Middle East, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in particular.

Life

Bisharat was born in

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Uni ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

to a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

father, Dr. Maurice Bisharat from

Talbiya ar, الطالبية , settlement_type = Neighborhood of Jerusalem , image_skyline = File:TalbiyaDec122022 01.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

(whose

Palestinian Christian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

family originally came from Rafidia) and an American mother Mary Johnson. A house owned and built in 1926 by Bisharat's paternal grandfather Hanna Ibrahim Bisharat was later confiscated by Zionist militias and became the residence of

Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and '' kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...

. Bisharat's paternal uncle Victor a prominent architect who helped revitalize Stamford, Connecticut. He earned his B.A. in anthropology from

UC-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

in California and his M.A. in history from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in Washington, DC, before going on to graduate cum laude from Harvard Law School. In 1987, he earned a PhD in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and Middle East Studies from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

.George Bisharat: Professor and commentator
The Institute for Middle East Understanding Bisharat served as deputy Public Defender for the city of San Francisco from 1987 to 1991, and in 1989, he published the book ''Palestinian Lawyers and Israeli Rule: Law and Disorder in the West Bank'' (

University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...

). In 1991, Bisharat became Professor of Law at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California ...

in San Francisco, California, a position he continues to hold. He has also worked with the Palestinian Legislative Council on efforts to reform and develop the

judiciary system, and is a former member of the editorial board of the

Journal of Palestine Studies The ''Journal of Palestine Studies (JPS)'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1971. It is published by Taylor and Francis on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies, having previously been published by the University ...

Views

Bisharat is a commentator on the Middle East and the legal and human rights aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his written commentaries have been published in U.S. and international media. He was an critic of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's conduct during its 2006 war with

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, and has been a defender of the right of return of

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War (1967 Palestinian exodu ...

who were expelled or fled from their homes in 1948 during the creation of the State of Israel. Bisharat supports the possibility a

one-state solution The one-state solution, sometimes also called a bi-national state, is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state must be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Propone ...

to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and is working on a book addressing the legal aspects of that solution. He supports a boycott of Israel, arguing in a 2007 editorial published by the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

that a boycott was "both necessary and justified" by Israel's continued occupation of

Palestinian Territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

. Bisharat has argued in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' that Israel's actions in the 2008–2009 Israel–Palestine conflict over Gaza constitute war crimes.George Bisharat, srael on Trial ''

'', April 4, 2009.

References

University of California Hastings College of the Law Faculty

* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/15/EDASRIF3U.DTL&hw=george+bisharat&sn=005&sc=554 "Boycott movement targets Israel", George Bisharat, ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', 15 August 2007]
"40th Anniversary of the Six-Day War: Solution on which all agree impossible to achieve", George Bisharat, ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', 4 June 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisharat, George Living people American people of Palestinian descent UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences alumni Harvard Law School alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco faculty 1954 births Public defenders