But in Gaza, the Authority will be less likely to agree. “I very much doubt that after the experience in the West Bank, anyone would be willing to repeat that experience on the Palestinian or Arab side,” he said.
Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian analyst, suggested that what Israel was discussing represented an occupation, whatever you call it.
“You’re either there permanently or you’re not,” he said of Israel’s future role in controlling Gaza. “Either you stay or you don’t.” Comprehensive security control means being everywhere, in every corner. This means meeting the social, educational and health needs and taking responsibility” for the enclave, which is precisely what Israel says it will not do.
Despite Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, by most legal definitions, it still occupies the territory, since it controls Gaza’s airspace, its coastline, all land borders except with Egypt, the vast majority of goods authorized to enter and Gazans authorized to exit. Lawyers call this “functional occupation,” says Michael Sfard, a lawyer specializing in the laws of war.
Even before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel held “all levels of control,” including the population registry of births and deaths in Gaza, Mr. Sfard said. “The test of occupation is the level of control,” which is why Israel is seen internationally as continuing to occupy the strip, even though it is not responsible for garbage collection, he said. -he declares.
And if Israel chooses to treat Gaza like Area A of the West Bank, where it is free to enter and exit with its troops as it pleases, that would provide an even clearer reason to call it an occupation, Mr. Sfard. .
