Honest Reporting/Backspin
28 December 09
An "expert" in international law, BBC bureau chief Jeremy Bowen, has concluded that Israel is still the legal occupier of Gaza, despite the 2005 disengagement. This statement is his own words:
But Israel, legally speaking, still has the responsibilities of an occupying power, even though it no longer has a permanent military presence in Gaza. These responsibilities include ensuring the welfare of the population, allowing the functioning of medical services, and maintaining respect for private property.
But international law isn't as clear cut as Bowen asserts. Last year, David Rivkin Jr. and Lee Casey laid out a powerful argument against the occupied status, writing in the Washington Post:
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Posts
Israel is the only country in the world accused of maintaining an occupation of territory in which it has no military or civilian presence! The criteria of controlling borders is never applied to Egypt and the same crowd that condemns Israel's security wall is silent when Egypt is building one just like it along its Gaza border.
ReplyDeleteJust don't say the idealists are now cynics.