Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources is considering whether to approve a public hearing on proposed new rules for Iolani palace after on-site protests by native Hawaiians.
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But International law professor at the University of Illinois, Francis Boyle, says the group is within their rights to possess what is essentially their land and under international law have an airtight case.

“I think its significant for the fact that they have actually now tried to reclaim the Iolani palace, that was the headquarters of the Queen where she lived until she was overthrown and imprisoned. So I think it has a great deal, certainly of symbolic, and political and legal significance.”

An indigenous Hawaiian senator says Ionai [sic] palace is a public space and native Hawaiians are entitled to use the property.
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Senator Kalani English says many native Hawaiian groups are determined to protect and utilise what they say is rightfully their land.

“One of the things that always strikes me is that people always try to romanticise our culture and turn us into a museum piece. And that’s always very scary, because we’re still here, we’re still 20 percent of the population, quite a large segment of the population, and yet we still have real issues.”