The Verity Courier
The Hamas Attack
By Ron Estes
9 October 2023
The Hamas attack on Israel Saturday, 7 October, was the most serious attack Israel has experienced in 50 years, but once Israel turns the full strength of its armed forces against Hamas and its incursion, it is going to have a catastrophic ending for Hamas, and the Gaza population. It is a symbolic show of force by Hamas, that will not be effective in freeing Gaza from the Israeli occupation of its territory and total control of its resources.
Israel legally still occupies Gaza, and as an occupying power it maintains a blockade controlling goods entering and leaving Gaza, including food. Legal reference to the question of occupation of Gaza is the Hague Regulations (Hague IV,art.42). Under the terms of the Hague Regulations, as an occupying power, Israel continues to exercise effective control of Gaza borders including the sea and air space; Israel has also reserved (and has exercised) the right to intervene militarily in Gaza and continues to control Gaza’s infrastructure (water and electricity, fuel, imports/exports, radio and TV frequencies, etc.) Israel is thus bound by the responsibilities of an occupying power, and its blockade is in violation of article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention, which declares collective punishment of a civilian population a breach of the 4th Convention. Breaches of the Convention are prosecutable as war crimes.
The UN World Food Program contends the Gaza population, of 2 million, requires 400 trucks a day of just food to meet basic international nutrition standards. Israel has never met that requirement. Consequently, 450,000 Gazans do not have access to clean water, 52% of their children are anemic, and 80% of Gazans depend on the trickle of International aid Israel permits to enter. The WHO reports not enough IVs, nor enough bottles to store blood, and a shortage of anesthetics.
International political, and aid observers contend that it is unprecedented for a country to impose a blockade to prevent smuggling of weapons by depriving a civilian population of adequate food.
Israel's reaction to this attack will undoubtedly emphasize the illegality of military aggression against its territory and population. And the Biden administration is already on board to support and defend Israel. Both nations will characterize the attack as a subversive operation by the terrorist group, Hamas.
But, can Hamas be characterized as a terrorist organization?The Palestinians have a legal right to resist their occupation by Israel. That right comes from two documents: the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Fourth Geneva Convention and its subsequent protocols.
Taken together, people have the right to “fight against colonial domination and alien occupation in the exercise of their right to self-determination.” Israel’s failures to abide by international law, as a belligerent occupant, amounts to a fundamental denial of the right of self-determination, and more generally of respect for the framework of belligerent occupation — giving rise to a Palestinian right of resistance.” Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, a professor of international law at Princeton University.
Since Palestinian territory is now a UN recognized sovereign state, it is important to understand what role Hamas will play in the Palestinian state future. We have a clue: In a statement on December 1, 2010, Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, addressing a news conference said, “We accept a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the resolution of the issue of refugees,” referring to Israel having occupied the Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem in 1967.
“Hamas will respect the results (of a referendum) regardless of whether it differs with its ideology and principles,” he said, provided it included all Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora.
According to news reports, over a thousand people have been killed in this reckless Hamas assault. Despite its legal authority, bad judgement and irresponsible decisions deserve retribution.
Ron Estes served 25 years as an Operations Officer in the CIA Clandestine Service.
