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Is Gaza Still Occupied?

It depends on how you define the word occupation.
In an article entitled Legal Acrobatics: The Palestinian Claim that Gaza is Still “Occupied” Even After Israel Withdraws, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dore Gold, claims the Palestinians are abusing the term for political ends.

The fact that a wide variety of Palestinian spokesmen will charge that the Gaza Strip is still “occupied” even though the Palestinians exercise self-government and the Israeli civilian and military presence in this territory have been removed is revealing. It means that the charge of “occupation” is less a rigorous legal definition and more a blunt political instrument to serve the PLO’s diplomatic and military agenda against Israel.

He makes some good points. Even if the borders and airspace remain under Israeli control, claiming that ‘nothing has changed’ is ridiculous. What really hasn’t changed is the Palestinian awareness that an end to the occupation means an end to world sympathy and, therefore, the diplomatic free ride they have enjoyed for years.
From the looks of things, the only thing the PA leaders hate more than occupation is having to take responsibilty for their own people.

11 thoughts on “Is Gaza Still Occupied?

  1. dor gold is a right-wing p.o.s. who heads up the jerusalem center for public affairs, a disgraceful propaganda mill which has excused israeli demolition of palestinian homes and which targets ngos working in the territories.

  2. I always thought that http://ngo-monitor.org was very credible.
    Mob,
    what do the left-wing pro-palestinian NGO’s have to hide?
    As for the main issue here,
    all of Israel is occupied. Continuing to ignore that often repeated claim by the Arabs is stupid.

  3. but it’s not cool to accept this fact josh.
    if ‘left wingers’ accepted whats right in front of their eyes, they wouldnt be cool anymore.

  4. Hey, I know. Let’s get all pissed off at Jesse Jackson for publicly saying that “the moral burden now substatcially shifts to the Palestinians.” I mean, where does he get off…?

  5. Gaza has no control over its borders. Goods and people cannot flow freely. How can it develop an economy in this situation? This is like arguing that area A in the West Bank is not still occupied, when the Israeli military controls all traffic in and out and can enter whenever it wishes.

  6. Surrounding Gaza with a fence, patrolled by the Israeli military, who control all traffic in and out of the strip — maybe this isnt occupation. But what does one call it, when an outside power maintains a military cordon around territory that does not belong to it. It sounds like a prison, with Israel as the jailer. It is just a large scale Qalqilya, where Israel has surrounded an entire city of 40,000 with walls & fences, and controls all movement in and out. I fail to see a vast difference.
    http://www.btselem.org/English

  7. You raise a good point about what to call the situation. But lets agree that Israel’s withdrawal of soldiers and citizens ended the “occupation.”
    The Kalkilya example doesn’t hold, because that’s just one city in a larger framework. It would be equivalent to Israel leaving Kfar Dorom and staying everywhere else. But ALL soldiers and civilians have been or are being removed. And Israel is leaving the border area between Gaza and Egypt. The rest is Gaza’s border with Israel, and Israel still has the right to monitor its own borders.
    And, uh, Mobius, you’d think a guy who complains so much about ad hominem attacks would stick to the content of posts in his comments. But I guess you’re different…

  8. I’d call it a siege, leaving Israel responsible for the inhabitants, just like occupation. Israel has a right to monitor its borders, but what about Gaza’s airspace and seacoast? And it is not allowing access to the rest of Palestinian territory in the West Bank. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated, “when the Israelis withdraw from Gaza it cannot be sealed or [an] isolated area, with the Palestinian people closed in after that withdrawal. We are committed to connectivity between Gaza and the West Bank, and we are committed to openness and freedom of movement for the Palestinian people.”
    With Condi saying that, good luck convincing the UN that the occupation of Gaza is over.

  9. The Torah says: This land is mine, G-d gave this land to me! This vast and Holy Land, to me! Though I am just a man, if you are by my side, with the help of G-d I know I can be strong!
    Or as my Aunt Hannah used to say: Az mir vill schlugen a hunt, gifintmin a schtecken!

  10. unfortunatly yes Gaza is still Occupied….it will be forever …. :(…
    but at least the people got a piece of land,,,
    pecae to all.

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