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How Gaza Became One Big Suicide Bomb

(Sydney Morning Herald-Australia) Gregory Rose - Gaza is a suicide bomb. It is rigged by its leaders to explode. This is not a metaphor. It is a war crime. It makes the calculus of proportionality in the use of armed force by the Israel Defense Forces complex and uncertain. The Hamas use of suicide bombings is well-developed. A decade ago, it involved the leadership preparing vulnerable Arab individuals to end their lives by blowing up Jews in Israeli cities. The use of Hamas towns and local populations in their entirety as huge suicide bombs to kill Israeli soldiers drawn into them by repeated Hamas provocations is an innovation. There is clear and abundant evidence of this in the use of civilian shields, booby traps, and lack of civilian protections. Hamas rocket and mortar fire from the shelter of local schools, hospitals and markets has been photographed. About 5% of Hamas rockets misfire and land on Gazan targets, such as one in a hospital and another in a market last week. A mass suicide bomb strategy is made possible by jihadist fervor, righteous absolutism and the promise of paradise in its Islamist conception. The West European-derived legal concepts of proportionality, distinction, civilian protection and war crimes are as relevant as disc brakes to a camel. Professor Gregory Rose is a specialist in international law at the University of Wollongong.
2014-08-05 00:00:00
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