A Sciences Po School of Law and MENA Program Event.
On 22 September 2025, the UN General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration on the Recognition of the State of Palestine, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia and endorsed by 142 states. At the same meeting, countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, and France, among others, formally recognised Palestine. In its concluding statement, the Declaration welcomed the recognition of the Palestinian state and highlighted urgent priorities: humanitarian access, stabilization and security, the establishment of a unified Palestinian government, and a defined vision for Palestinian statehood. To assess both the promises and the limitations of such declarations in light of the ongoing realities of war and occupation, this MENA Program event will bring together two leading experts on Palestine in international and constitutional law.
Join us for a discussion with our guests:
- Sanaa Alsarghali is an Associate Professor of Constitutional Law and UNESCO Chairholder on Human Rights, Democracy, and Peace at An-Najah National University, Palestine. She was the first woman to obtain a PhD in Constitutional Law in Palestine. In August 2025, she was appointed as a member of the Drafting Committee of the Palestinian Interim Constitution, a high-level body tasked with shaping the transition from the Palestinian Authority to statehood. Since 2024, she has been working as a board member of the Palestinian Curriculum National Council, responsible for reviewing and reforming the national curriculum. Alsarghali is a Global Faculty Visiting Professor at Sciences Po and has conducted extensive research on constitutional identity and constitutional design, with a particular focus on the semi-presidential system and its relevance to a future Palestinian constitution. She has recently co-authored with Nathan J. Brown two studies-“Does Palestine Need an Interim Constitution?” and “Building a Palestinian Constitution”-which explore how constitutional tools can support Palestinian state-building and preparation for the “day after.”
- Ardi Imseis is an Associate Professor of Law, Faculty of Law at Queen’s University. He is the author of The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity (Cambridge University Press 2023). In 2019, Dr. Imseis was named by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a Member of the UN commission of inquiry into the civil war in Yemen. He has advised and served as Legal Counsel before the International Court of Justice in a number of cases. Between 2002 and 2014, he served in senior legal and policy capacities in the Middle East with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The discussion will be chaired by Aghiad Ghanem, Scientific Director of the MENA Program.
Venue: Sciences Po, Room N201, 1 place St Thomas d’Aquin, Paris 7ème