GLOBE EDITORIAL
The agony of Gaza
July 7, 2006 THERE ARE various reasons and justifications for Israel's current military operations in Gaza, for the Palestinian raid into Israel that culminated in the abduction of an Israeli soldier, and for the constant firing of Palestinian rockets from Gaza into communities inside Israel. One need not posit a moral equivalency between the two sides to recognize, however, that the deliberate targeting or punishing of civilians cannot be justified -- neither in international humanitarian law nor by common standards of human compassion.
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So Israel has the right to try to deter suicide bombings and the launching of missiles at Israeli towns. And in the current case of the Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinian militant factions, Israel's government is justified in seeking to obtain his release without making concessions that create incentives for the seizure of more hostages in the future.
But there can be no justification for Israel's collective punishment of at least half of the civilian population in Gaza. The worst of that punishment comes not from the firing of missiles and artillery, nor from the sonic booms that frighten children at night and keep their parents from sleeping. The worst has been Israel's bombing of the one power plant that supplies electricity to some 700,000 of Gaza's 1.3 million people.
Without power, people in Gaza are deprived of air conditioners, fans, and refrigerators on stifling days and nights. Worse yet, Gaza's water supply must be pumped and purified by electricity. An already poor sewage system has ceased to function. If nothing is done to remedy the situation, families in Gaza will soon be without electricity or gas to boil unpurified water. They will be unable to refrigerate or cook what food they have been able to hoard for an emergency. If they ingest unpurified water, they risk an outbreak of diseases, including cholera. And without electricity, Gaza's hospitals and clinics cannot treat the sick.
It is ethically indefensible to impose such conditions on the confined population of Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of civilians should not be made hostage to obtain the release of one Israeli soldier. If Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert believes this is the right way to turn the Palestinian public against Hamas and the other factions firing rockets into Israel, he is making a political as well as a moral blunder.
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