Israel
continues to violate international laws and treaties as well as numerous UN
resolutions by implementing the collective punishment of over one and a half
million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
On
October 28, the Israeli Defence Ministry ordered cutbacks in the shipment of
fuel into Gaza. According to the
Ministry, fuel shipments would be cut by around 10 percent in retaliation for
rocket attacks launched against Israel from within the Gaza Strip. However,
within 24 hours of the announcement, Palestinian officials reported a cutback
of 30 percent in fuel supplies. This resulted in increased intermittent power
blackouts, further deepening the humanitarian crisis the area.
In
addition, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said he would also authorize
cutting electricity to Gaza for increasing periods, although the government has
yet to implement this. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai warned that after
the next rocket attack Israel will cut electricity by 15 minutes, increasing
the duration if the attacks persist. He
said that Israel will “dramatically reduce” the power it supplies to Gaza over
the next few weeks unless the attacks stop.
Gaza
buys 60 percent of its electricity from Israel, with the rest coming from the
area’s sole operating power plant. However, that plant was damaged extensively
in June 2006 when it was struck by six Israeli missiles. Since then, electricity has only been
available for a few hours a day.
On
the same day that the fuel cuts were announced, a group of 10 Palestinian and
Israeli human rights group petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court asking for an
immediate injunction against the cuts.
Their petition was denied. The groups have since requested an urgent
hearing before the court to argue that the measure violates Israeli law. That
hearing still has not taken place.
The
Israeli measures clearly violate international law, which prohibits any
government with control over a territory from withholding objects or services
essential to the survival of a civilian population. Israel also has obligations under
international law as an occupying power to safeguard the health and welfare of
the population living under occupation. Although Israel ostensibly withdrew
from the Gaza Strip in August of 2005, it still controls Gaza’s airspace, sea
and land borders as well as its electricity, water, sewage, telecommunications
and population registry. As such, it is still considered to be and is
effectively functioning as an occupying power.
Israel
rejects this argument. Perhaps inspired by the American claim that declaring
detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay as “enemy combatants” means that the
prisoner-of-war provisions of the Geneva Convention do not apply, Israeli
officials have said that their September declaration that Gaza is “hostile
territory” means they are no longer obliged to supply utilities to the civilian
population.
This
is not the case according to Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East Director of
the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch. She recently told reporters: "A
mere declaration does not change the facts on the ground that impose on Israel
the status and obligations of an occupying power". She continued, "Because Israel remains an occupying
power, in light of its continuing restrictions on Gaza, Israel must not take
measures that harm the civilian population – yet that is precisely what cutting
fuel or electricity for even short periods will do.”