Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai's much publicized remark last week about Gaza facing a shoah – the Hebrew word for the Holocaust – was widely assumed to be unpleasant hyperbole about the army's plans for an imminent full-scale invasion of the Strip.
Last summer Vilnai began quietly preparing a plan on behalf of his boss, the Defense Minister Ehud Barak, to declare Gaza a "hostile entity" and dramatically reduce the essential services supplied by Israel. The cuts were finally implemented late last year after the Israeli courts gave their blessing.
Vilnai and Barak, both former military men, like so many other Israeli politicians, have been "selling" this policy – of choking off basic services to Gaza – to Western public opinion ever since.
Under international law, Israel as the occupying power has an obligation to guarantee the welfare of the civilian population in Gaza, a fact forgotten when the media reported Israel's decision to declare Gaza a hostile entity.
Monday, March 10, 2008
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