[News] Starve or surrender: Cut off all food and water to Gaza, says Israeli general

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Starve or surrender: Cut off all food and water to Gaza, says Israeli
  general

Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Sat, 08/23/2014 - 19:28
*http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/starve-or-surrender-cut-all-food-and-water-gaza-says-israeli-general*

Israeli Major-General Giora Eiland 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/giora-eiland> has urged that all 
food and water be cut off to Gaza's nearly 1.8 million Palestinian 
residents -- a major war crime and precisely the "starve or surrender" 
policy which the United States has condemned when used in Syria.

Eiland, the Israeli government's former national security advisor, 
argues that Gaza should be considered an enemy "state."

"Since Gaza is in fact a state in a military confrontation with us, the 
proper way to put pressure on them is to bring to a full stop the 
supplies from Israel to Gaza, not only of electricity and fuel, but also 
of food and water," he wrote in a Hebrew-language op-ed 
<http://www.mako.co.il/news-columns/Article-a29168b5042f741004.htm> on 
/Mako/, a website affiliated with Israel's Channel 2 television.

"A state cannot simultaneously attack and feed the enemy, while he is 
shooting at you, because this gives the other country a breathing space 
-- and again I am referring to Gaza as a country, because the regime 
there is supported by its people," Eiland adds.


    Israel legally obliged to supply Gaza population

Eiland appears to believe that the fiction that Gaza is a sovereign 
"state" would somehow lessen culpability for what would amount to 
massive war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Under Article 55 
<http://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=8803ECCAB8E2414BC12563CD0051BE3B> 
of the Fourth Geneva Convention, "the Occupying Power has the duty of 
ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in 
particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other 
articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate."

Under international law, Israel's 2005 "disengagement" from Gaza has not 
ended its military occupation of the territory because Gaza remains 
under the "effective control 
<http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/review/2012/irrc-885-ferraro.pdf>" 
of Israel.

Yet Israel has long violated its obligation by deliberately restricting 
the basic needs of Gaza's population and deliberately destroying their 
food sources including agricultural land, poultry and dairy farms.

While Eiland's proposal calls to cut all food and water, strictly 
regulating the food intake of Palestinians 
<http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/redlines/redlines-position-paper-eng.pdf> 
in Gaza to achieve political ends has long been the Israeli occupation's 
actual policy.

Israel's deliberate attacks on Gaza's civilian infrastructure have 
created a "water disaster 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/water-disaster-hits-every-single-person-gaza>," 
already depriving every single person of access to a safe and secure 
supply of water.

Israel's brutal siege is precisely what the Palestinian resistance in 
Gaza is currently fighting to end.


    Possible genocidal intent

Eiland recently argued 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/how-liberal-zionists-enable-israels-genocidal-ambitions> 
in /Yedioth Ahronoth/, Israel's largest newspaper, that because they 
elected Hamas, the people of Gaza as a whole "are to blame for this 
situation just like Germany's residents were to blame for electing 
Hitler as their leader and paid a heavy price for that, and rightfully so."

General Eiland's call -- which may amount to incitement to genocide 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/genocide> as well as to war crimes 
and crimes against humanity -- is only the latest exterminationist 
proposal from an Israeli leader.

Moshe Feiglin, deputy speaker of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, for 
instance, recently called for the population of Gaza to be moved to 
concentration camps and then expelled 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/concentrate-and-exterminate-israel-parliament-deputy-speakers-gaza-genocide-plan> 
so that Gaza could be resettled with Jews.


    "Starve or surrender" mirrors Syria policy

The United States government, Israel's chief sponsor, has not expressed 
any criticism of Eiland's proposals, nor done anything to end Israel's 
siege. However, it views "starve or surrender" as a grave crime 
<http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/229625.htm> when used against 
opposition-held areas by the government in Syria.

This has been the case in several areas including Yarmouk refugee camp 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/thousands-risk-starvation-yarmouk-un-warns> 
where, Amnesty International has said 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/thousands-risk-starvation-yarmouk-un-warns>, 
the Syrian government is "using starvation as a weapon of war to achieve 
its ends."

Last month, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution 
<http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/sc11473.doc.htm> demanding that 
"all Syrian parties to the conflict," including the government and the 
opposition, "shall enable the immediate and unhindered delivery of 
humanitarian assistance directly to people throughout Syria," 
immediately "removing all impediments to the provision of humanitarian 
assistance."

By contrast, the so-called "international community," led by the United 
States, has supported and justified Israel's siege of Gaza for almost 
eight years.

/With thanks to Daniel Shunra for translation./

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20140825/f0715b38/attachment.htm>