I will not be holding my breath while hoping to read a report of this speech in the Press. And how depressing is that! Thank you for bringing this analysis to our attention. It should be required reading for all our Media-Masters.
I am embarrassed about my lack of knowledge about Palestine, Gaza and Israel. I have made a promise to myself that I shall explore this vexed issue in greater depth.
BUT:
. I do believe that more ought to be done to police and in appropriate cases curb arms supplies to dangerous States;
. AND: I have no serious doubt given its funding and arming of Hamas that the focus should be on the hideous, clerical, Islam distorting and mysoginistic Iranian regime. There has been FAR too much appeasement on the part of the U.K. and other Western governments for far too long.
.ALSO: International humanitarian law should be brought to bear so that the likes of its President Ebrahim Raisi would be deterred from boasting about the brutalities of that government offered to its citizens merely for demonstrating and protesting for a free and democratic Iran. Additionally the regime’s Islamic Republican Guard Corps should be made a proscribed organisation FORTHWITH and sanctions should be targeted on key perpetrators of evil AND their families, where they are FAR too much at liberty at present to visit and benefit from U.K. and other resources and expensive commodities.
The world would thereby become a (somewhat) happier and more secure place.
Regarding occupation (Hamas is arguably the occupying power in Gaza) - airspace, maritime and Rafah points to consider are:
1) Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was found legal in the 2010 UN investigative commission 'Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Inquiry on the Gaza Flotilla Incident'
(Quote) "The fundamental principle of the freedom of navigation on the high seas is subject to only certain limited exceptions under international law. Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law." https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/720841
2) Airspace - Russia controls Syria airspace but Syria is not under Russian occupation.
3) Rafah - is under Egypt-Hamas control. E.g.
a) March 2020: Hamas closed the border to limit spread of COVID-19.
b) February 2021: Egypt opens the border indefinitely.
c) 2017 Article title: Hamas rejects return to Israeli involvement in border crossings; Hamas strongly opposes the Palestinian Authority's insistence on bringing back the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access at the Rafah crossing, seeing it as tantamount to imposing Israeli and European guardianship on their crossings again.
Content: The Palestinian Authority (PA) wants to resurrect an old deal it made with Israel, but the pact is no more popular with Hamas today than it was 12 years ago.
As part of the recent Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah/PA in the West Bank, the PA took over administration of the Gaza border crossings on Nov. 1. The PA insists on reviving the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA), which sets restrictions on the use of Gaza Strip crossings. Hamas roundly rejects the idea.
The AMA, which the European Commission supported, covered all Gaza Strip border crossings, including the Rafah crossing into Egypt, but was suspended in June 2007 immediately after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and expelled the PA’s security officers. As a result, the commission withdrew and Israel announced that the AMA was no longer in effect.
The PA says the AMA is needed now to guarantee security at the crossing. Hamas says the pact unnecessarily invites Israel and the European Commission to interfere in Palestinian concerns and will impede individuals' movements through the crossing.
The law of armed conflict
I will not be holding my breath while hoping to read a report of this speech in the Press. And how depressing is that! Thank you for bringing this analysis to our attention. It should be required reading for all our Media-Masters.
I am embarrassed about my lack of knowledge about Palestine, Gaza and Israel. I have made a promise to myself that I shall explore this vexed issue in greater depth.
BUT:
. I do believe that more ought to be done to police and in appropriate cases curb arms supplies to dangerous States;
. AND: I have no serious doubt given its funding and arming of Hamas that the focus should be on the hideous, clerical, Islam distorting and mysoginistic Iranian regime. There has been FAR too much appeasement on the part of the U.K. and other Western governments for far too long.
.ALSO: International humanitarian law should be brought to bear so that the likes of its President Ebrahim Raisi would be deterred from boasting about the brutalities of that government offered to its citizens merely for demonstrating and protesting for a free and democratic Iran. Additionally the regime’s Islamic Republican Guard Corps should be made a proscribed organisation FORTHWITH and sanctions should be targeted on key perpetrators of evil AND their families, where they are FAR too much at liberty at present to visit and benefit from U.K. and other resources and expensive commodities.
The world would thereby become a (somewhat) happier and more secure place.
Regarding occupation (Hamas is arguably the occupying power in Gaza) - airspace, maritime and Rafah points to consider are:
1) Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was found legal in the 2010 UN investigative commission 'Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Inquiry on the Gaza Flotilla Incident'
(Quote) "The fundamental principle of the freedom of navigation on the high seas is subject to only certain limited exceptions under international law. Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law." https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/720841
2) Airspace - Russia controls Syria airspace but Syria is not under Russian occupation.
3) Rafah - is under Egypt-Hamas control. E.g.
a) March 2020: Hamas closed the border to limit spread of COVID-19.
b) February 2021: Egypt opens the border indefinitely.
c) 2017 Article title: Hamas rejects return to Israeli involvement in border crossings; Hamas strongly opposes the Palestinian Authority's insistence on bringing back the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access at the Rafah crossing, seeing it as tantamount to imposing Israeli and European guardianship on their crossings again.
Content: The Palestinian Authority (PA) wants to resurrect an old deal it made with Israel, but the pact is no more popular with Hamas today than it was 12 years ago.
As part of the recent Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah/PA in the West Bank, the PA took over administration of the Gaza border crossings on Nov. 1. The PA insists on reviving the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA), which sets restrictions on the use of Gaza Strip crossings. Hamas roundly rejects the idea.
The AMA, which the European Commission supported, covered all Gaza Strip border crossings, including the Rafah crossing into Egypt, but was suspended in June 2007 immediately after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and expelled the PA’s security officers. As a result, the commission withdrew and Israel announced that the AMA was no longer in effect.
The PA says the AMA is needed now to guarantee security at the crossing. Hamas says the pact unnecessarily invites Israel and the European Commission to interfere in Palestinian concerns and will impede individuals' movements through the crossing.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/opening-gaza-wider-world-israeli-palestinian-agreement-movement-and-access
A much needed corrective to all the armchair lawyers on Twitter and elsewhere!