Court asked: Israel still 'occupying' Gaza?

Israel's Supreme Court must weigh the country's security concerns against Palestinians' commercial livelihood.

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"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week held up improvements in Gaza's only commercial link to the outside world as evidence of progress in Israeli-Palestinian relations.

But Sunday the Karni crossing at the Israel-Gaza border became the focus of a dispute in Israel's Supreme Court between human rights groups and the government. At issue: Does Israel have a responsibility to alleviate delays – lasting up to three months – in imported goods?

The debate highlights Gaza's murky legal status and whether Israel's control over the impoverished strip's key access points still determines it as an occupying power, even though it withdrew troops a year and a half ago.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the petition, submitted when Israel had shut down most crossings amid a military offensive there.

Human rights groups say Israel exercises an "invisible hand" in Gazans' daily lives because it can regulate commercial goods coming or leaving the territory. "The only way Gaza residents can receive a crate of milk ... and a shipment of medicines is through Israeli-controlled crossings,' " says Sari Bashi, the director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights group that cosponsored the petition. "Only Israel can fulfill this obligation to the residents of Gaza."

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-6YS8ZP?OpenDocument

Gaza Is Still Occupied - Despite Israeli Denial

Wed., Jan. 17, 2007: Israel never “disengaged” from control over Gaza and therefore cannot escape responsibility for the well-being of its residents, according to a position paper published today by Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement. The paper, titled, “Disengaged Occupiers: The Legal Status of Gaza,” counters a claim made by Israel that it no longer occupies Gaza and therefore owes no obligations to Gaza residents under international law.

The position paper argues that despite the removal of settlements and permanent army bases from Gaza, Israel continues to control life in Gaza through an “invisible hand”: control over borders, air space, territorial waters, population registry, taxation system, supply of goods, and control over the ability of the Palestinian Authority to function. The paper challenges an assumption held by Israelis and even some international policy-makers that Israel’s “disengagement” plan ended the occupation of Gaza.

According to the paper: “Gaza residents know that their ability to use electric lights, to buy milk, or to have the garbage collected depends on decisions made by Israel. At times, soldiers operate in the streets of Gaza, but even after they leave, Israeli control over the lives of Gaza residents remains constant.”

Gisha uses public and internal military documents, interviews with EU monitors, and narratives from Gaza residents to argue that tightened Israeli closure policies, implemented since its disengagement plan, have helped plunge Gaza into an economic and humanitarian crisis unprecedented in the 38 years of occupation that preceded the removal of permanent military installations. The paper includes interviews with Gaza residents who are trapped in Gaza and officially “do not exist” – because Israel won’t recognize them as residents of Gaza. The paper analyzes the international law of occupation and concludes that it still applies to Israeli actions vis à vis Gaza residents.

http://www.gisha.org/english/Announcements.htm#17.1.07

That is the most fundamental sort of accountability.