My Debate With John Kerry on Gaza by Jeff Prager John Kerry: There are no guarantees. This is a difficult, complicated issue. Jeff Prager: This is not a difficult or complicated issue. The High Court of Justice in Israel, with a variety of justices sitting, has repeatedly stated for more than 4 decades that Israels presence in the West Bank is a violation of international law [1]. The Israeli High Court of Justice has ruled that Israel holds the West Bank under belligerent occupation [2]. Even though Israel has disengaged from Gaza, troops still patrol the streets and arrest men, women and children whose food consumption, water consumption and electricity consumption is restricted and controlled. Israels annexation of East Jerusalem in 1980 (see Jerusalem Law [3]) and the Golan Heights in 1981 (see Golan Heights Law [4]) has not been recognised by any other country. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 [5] declared the annexation of Jerusalem null and void and required that it be rescinded. United Nations Security Council Resolution 497 [6] also declared the annexation of the Golan null and void. Anything and everything that happens in Gaza is governed by international law with Israel as the occupying force. This means Israel controls every single item that enters Gaza, the borders are completely closed and no one comes or goes—human movement is controlled. Human consumption is controlled. Airspace and naval blockades exist. Why do you think there are so many tunnels? The people of Gaza are in prison. Even the UN recognizes Gaza as occupied territory and the whole world recognizes this as being the true facts on the ground [7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Under international law [12] there are certain laws of war governing military occupation [13], including the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 [14] and the Fourth Geneva Convention [15]. The question that you should be asking yourself is this Mr. Kerry, If Israel did all of these things to me, my family and my countrymen, would I fire a few rockets in their direction? And Mr. Kerry, as the patriot that we all know you are and based on your Vietnam War record, we also know youd be on the front line manning those rocket launchers aimed at Israel screaming, give me liberty or give me death! And the Israelis would be calling you a Palestinian terrorist. References: 1. Legal Expert: If Israel Isnt Occupying West Bank, It Must Give Up Land Held By IDF, Haaretz, July 9, 2012: haaretz/news/diplomacy-defense/legal-expert-if-israel-isn-t-occupying-west-bank-it-must-give-up-land-held-by-idf-1.449909 2. Beit Sourik Village Council vs The Government of Israel and the Commander of the IDF Forces in the West Bank, February 2004, nad-plo.org, PDF: nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/Document/israelid.pdf 3. Jerusalem Law, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Law 4. Golan Heights Law, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights_Law 5. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_478 6. United Nations Security Council Resolution 497, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_497 7. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General, UN: un.org/sg/spokesperson/index.asp?HighID=2059 8. Document - Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: The Conflict In Gaza: A Briefing on Applicable Law, Investigations and Accountability, Amnesty International: amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917-ed717fa5078d/mde150072009en.html 9. Human Rights Council Special Session on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Human Rights Watch written statement, July 6, 2006: hrw.org/en/news/2006/07/05/human-rights-council-special-session-occupied-palestinian-territories-july-6-2006 10. Is Gaza occupied territory? CNN World News, by Josh Levs, January 6, 2009: cnn/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza.occupation.question/index.html 11. Israel: Disengagement Will Not End Gaza Occupation, Human Rights Watch, October 29, 2004: hrw.org/en/news/2004/10/28/israel-disengagement-will-not-end-gaza-occupation 12. International Law, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_law 13. Military Occupation and the Laws of War, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_occupation#Military_occupation_and_the_laws_of_war 14. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conventions_(1899_and_1907) 15. Fourth Geneva Convention, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:32:49 +0000
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