In Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, violations are no longer isolated incidents; rather, they have become a systematic pattern of crimes that strike at the core of the protection afforded to civilians by international humanitarian law. What is happening in Gaza is not so much a war as it is a brutal aggression perpetrated by a racist occupying power that acts as if it is above international law. Targeting civilians, destroying infrastructure, siege, starvation, forced displacement, and collective punishment are all practices prohibited by the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and together they constitute grave violations that cannot be justified by military or security pretexts.
According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, these acts fall under war crimes and crimes against humanity, including targeting civilians, using starvation as a method of warfare, destroying property and homes, including health, educational, and humanitarian institutions, and imposing collective punishment, all of which undermine the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
International legal discourse is no longer confined to war crimes and crimes against humanity but has extended to the most serious international crimes, namely the crime of genocide. The situation in Gaza has entered the judicial verification circle under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the International Court of Justice has recognized the existence of acts that could fall within this crime.
Many international human rights organizations have also considered that what is happening in Gaza amounts to genocide or acts falling within its scope, based on the widespread killing, the extensive and repeated targeting of civilians, especially children and women, the systematic destruction of living conditions, and the use of siege, starvation, and deprivation of the population's means of survival.
The dilemma lies not in the absence of legal texts but in the absence of political will and enforcement mechanisms. The paralysis of the Security Council, the continued political and military support for Israel, and the double standards in applying international law have emptied the international protection system of its practical content. In contrast, a large part of the international community contents itself with statements of concern and condemnation, while the facts on the ground remain unchanged. This contradiction between the gravity of the crime and the limited response reveals a deep crisis in the international system.
Despite what was called the ceasefire agreement, and despite the resistance fulfilling its obligations in the first phase of it, Israel did not adhere to the requirements of the agreement, but rather continued its military operations and the daily policy of killing and targeting civilians. At the same time, the occupation forces continued to impose new realities on the ground by expanding military control areas within the Gaza Strip, which led to a significant reduction in the areas available to the population and the transformation of large parts of the Strip into prohibited or threatened areas. The commitments related to the introduction of mobile homes or the actual commencement of reconstruction were also not implemented, which left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in harsh humanitarian conditions.
As for the arrangements for managing the Strip, they remained stalled, as the Gaza management committee was unable to play any effective role, and its members were not allowed to enter the Strip, which threatens to transform it from a formal framework into merely a cover for the reality of the Israeli plan to keep the Strip in a state of political and administrative vacuum to implement a strategy of mass displacement if the opportunity arises. The danger of these facts is not limited to the continuation of human suffering but extends to an attempt to impose new political and security arrangements, and to manage the war by other means through consecrating field realities and preventing the formation of a Palestinian authority capable of managing the post-war phase.
In contrast, these developments raise major Palestinian questions about the continued bets of the Palestinian parties dominating the scene, and each of them clinging to the possibility of leading the next phase alone, without regard for the magnitude of the national catastrophe that has befallen the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian experience has proven that relying solely on the justice of the international system is not enough, just as merely condemning violations does not stop them. International law does not operate in a vacuum but is affected by the balance of power and the ability to transform texts into tools of pressure and accountability. Hence, the Palestinian challenge lies not only in proving the crime or legally describing it but in building a national, political, and legal force capable of transforming the moral and legal capital accumulated by the Palestinian cause into real elements of influence.
There appears to be an urgent need for a comprehensive national strategy based on the unity of political representation and a national agreement on rebuilding the Palestinian political system on democratic and participatory foundations, enabling the Palestinian people to possess a unified national authority capable of managing the conflict politically, legally, and diplomatically. Internal division is no longer just a political crisis but has become one of the most dangerous factors weakening the Palestinian ability to protect and defend national rights, and it also opens the door to imposing arrangements that bypass the collective national will.
At the same time, reality compels Palestinians to invest in the moral and legal capital that the Palestinian cause has gained in global public opinion, in universities, unions, civil society organizations, and international solidarity movements, as the conflict has also become a struggle for legitimacy, narrative, and global awareness.
Protecting the homeland and our people's right to a dignified life begins not only with confronting crime but with the ability to rebuild elements of national steadfastness, preserve the social fabric, and unify political will. Peoples under occupation do not triumph only by the means of power they possess but also by their ability to survive and prevent crime from achieving its political goals.
Perhaps the most dangerous thing a Palestinian can offer their tormentor is to surrender to helplessness or to accept that the balance of power is an eternal destiny. The occupation may possess power, but it does not and will not possess legitimacy, and the law may be delayed, but it does not lose its value as long as there is a people who cling to their rights and continue their struggle for freedom, dignity, and life.
And if the international system's inability has allowed the crime to continue, then the historical responsibility of Palestinians lies not in waiting for delayed justice but in building the elements of national, political, legal, and moral strength that prevent genocide from becoming destiny or injustice from becoming a permanent reality.
شارك برأيك
Gaza: Between Genocide, the Collapse of the International Protection System, and the Absence of National Responsibility