War, Invasion, Occupation? A Problem of Status on the Gaza Strip

• Author: Susan Power
• Position: BCL (NUI Galway), PhD Candidate, Trinity College Dublin
• Pages: 25-39

WAR,

INVASION,

OCCUPATION?

A

PROBLEM

OF STATUS

ON

THE

GAZA

STRIP

SUSAN

POWER*

Introduction

On

16

December

2008,

the

United Nations adopted

Security

Council

Resolution

1850,

reiterating

its

vision

for

a

democratic

Palestinian

State

and the

'irreversibility'

of

the Annapolis

negotiations-its

first

resolution

in

nearly five

years

pertaining

to

the

Israeli-Palestinian

conflict.'

Three

days

later,

Hamas

declared

an

end

to

its

six

month

Egyptian-brokered

ceasefire

with Israel.

2 On

27

December

2008,

after

weeks

of

Palestinian

border

rocket attacks, Israel

launched

a

full-scale air attack

on

Gaza,

in

what

the

Israeli

Defence

Minister

Ehud

Barak described

as

a

"war

to the

bitter

end".

3

These attacks

present

a

fresh wave

of

uncertainty

over

the

legal

status

of

Israel's

relationship

with

the

Gaza

Strip.

Israel,

under

its

unilateral

'Disengagement

Plan',

had withdrawn

all

Israeli

military

forces

and

evacuated

all

Israeli

settlements from

the

Gaza

Strip

on

12

September

2005.

The

Disengagement Plan

served

"to

dispel claims

regarding

Israel's

responsibility for

the

Palestinians

in

the

Gaza

Strip,"

by

ending

the

thirty-

eight

year

belligerent occupation.

4

However, disparities

between

the

politically

negotiated intra-state

Palestinian-Israeli

agreements

and

the de

BCL

(NUI

Galway),

PhD Candidate,

Trinity

College

Dublin.

SC

Res.

1850,

17

December

2008.

2

This

followed

an

earlier

attack

in

November

2008,

where

six

Palestinian fighters

were

killed

when

Israeli Special

Forces entered the Gaza

Strip

to

destroy

a

tunnel

being constructed

by

militants

there. Weiss,

"Six

Palestinian

fighters die

in

clashes

in

Gaza"

The

Irish

Times,

6

November 2008.

Palestinian

militants responded

to

the

tunnel

attacks

by

firing over

170

rockets

within

a

two-week

period

into Israeli

territory.

On

16

November

2008, four

Palestinian

militants

firing

mortars

were

killed

by

an

Israeli

air

strike in

Gaza, signaling

the

demise

of

the

ceasefire.

Israeli

Prime

Minister, Mr Olmert

declared,

"we

are

not eager

for

battle

but

we do

not fear

it".

Weiss, "Palestinians threaten

as

Israeli

air

strikes kill

four

militants" The

Irish

Times,

17

November

2008.

3

Barzak

and

Friedman,

"Israel

in

'war

to

the

bitter end' on Hamas"

Irish

Examiner,

30

December 2008.

4

Israel

Ministry

of

Foreign Affairs,

The

Disengagement

Plan

+General+Outline.htm>

(visited

14

January

2009).

©

2009

Susan

Power

and Dublin University

Law

Society