Citation

Hajjar L. Middle East Rep. 2016; 46(279).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Middle East Research & Information Project)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Israel deserves a certain pride of place as the preeminent innovator in producing interpretations of IHL that depart from well established international consensus but are nevertheless thoroughly engaged with its rules and norms. Israeli officials have gone to great lengths to frame as legal and ethical the war model response to the second intifada that started in 2000, the first of the current spate of counterterrorism wars roiling the Middle East. Over the ensuing 16 years, several events provide snapshots of the trajectory of Israeli state violence and innovative legal interpretations. The first of these is the legalization of targeted killing. The second example is the justification of indiscriminate violence. In late March 2002 Israel launched a far ranging military campaign in the West Bank in response to a deadly suicide bombing by a Hamas operative in a Netanya hotel on Passover eve. Operation Defensive Shield, which at that time was Israel's largest military operation since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, signaled a change in Israel's strategies of violence. The new strategy, termed 'mowing the grass,' was devised to inflict punishing levels of violence and destruction with the aim of both debilitating present capacities and deterring future violence against Israel. The rhetoric of innocent civilians amidst legitimate targets in the wake of the Shehadeh assassination foreshadowed Israel's new use of the concept to reframe enemy civilians as de facto human shields being used by the enemies against whom Israel was waging war in order to shift blame for civilian casualties caused by Israeli strikes onto the organizations being targeted. Israel has engaged repeatedly in practices that contradict the rules of IHL with devastating consequences for those on the receiving end of the violence.

Language: en

Keywords

violence; legislation; Israel; war; ethics; terrorism; international relations; peace process; military intervention