The Gaza Crisis

by Phyllis Bennis

Global Research, January 1, 2009
Institute for Policy Studies - 2008-12-28


The death toll in Gaza continues to rise. The carnage is everywhere – city streets, a mosque, hospitals, police stations, a jail, a university bus stop, a plastics factory, a television station. It seems impossible, unacceptable, to step back to analyze the situation while bodies remain buried under the rubble, while parents continue to search for their missing children, while doctors continue to labor to stitch burned and broken bodies back together without sufficient medicine or equipment. The hospitals are running short even of electricity—the Israeli blockade has denied them fuel to run the generators. It is an ironic twist on the legacy of Israel’s involvement in an earlier massacre – in the Sabra and Shatila camps, in Lebanon back in 1982, it was the Israeli soldiers who lit the flairs, lighting the night sky so their Lebanese allies could continue to kill.

But if we are serious about ending this carnage, this time, we have no choice but to try to analyze, try to figure out what caused this most recent massacre, how to stop it, and then how to continue our work to end the occupation, end Israel’s apartheid policies, and change U.S. policy to one of justice and equality for all.




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• The Israeli airstrikes represent serious violations of international law – including the Geneva Conventions and a range of international humanitarian law.

• The U.S. is complicit in the Israeli violations – directly and indirectly.

• The timing of the air strikes has far more to do with U.S. and Israeli politics than with protecting Israeli civilians.

• This serious escalation will push back any chance of serious negotiations between the parties that might have been part of the Obama administration’s plans.

• There is much work to be done.


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Violations of International Law

The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip violate important tenants of international humanitarian law, including violations of the Geneva Conventions. The violations include both obligations of an Occupying Power to protect an Occupied Population, and the broader requirements of the laws of war that prohibit specific acts. The violations start with collective punishment – the entire 1.5 million people who live in the Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.

Israel’s claim that it is “responding toâ€