So-Called Israeli High Court Approves Collective Punishment of Palestinians: More Reduction of Fuel to Gaza, and More Power Cuts

The Israeli High Court approves Israeli army fuel and power cuts to Gaza

Wednesday January 30, 2008 16:54 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies ghassanb at imemc dot org
The Israeli High Court of Justice approved on Wednesday afternoon the Israeli army reduction in fuel and power supplies to the Gaza strip.

The court decided that the reduced shipments of the supplies are legal, as long as they meet the humanitarian needs of the 1.5 million Gazans.

The Israeli government has placed the Gaza Strip under strict siege since last June 2007, and in the following October the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Israeli army, which controls all crossings in and out of the Palestinian coastal region, to reduce the supply of electricity, gasoline and diesel that enter Gaza.

Two weeks ago the Israeli government stopped all supplies from entering Gaza, leaving the region without electricity and food. Several days later, Israel allowed reduced shipments of fuel and food supplies to enter Gaza after facing international criticism.

The three-judge panel court said that its decision was to counter the Palestinian home-made shell attacks on Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. Israeli attacks and the siege on the Gaza strip over the past two weeks have left at least 50 Palestinians dead, whereas Palestinian home-made shell attacks aimed at Israeli towns near Gaza have left Israelis mildly injured in the same period of time.

Furthermore, in its ruling on Wednesday, the Israeli court dismissed a petition presented by several Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations seeking to stop the reduction of fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza.

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel - Adalah, a leading human rights group in Israel- opposes those cuts, and told Israeli media agencies that the high court decision was "a dangerous precedent."

A spokesperson for Hamas in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, told media that the court decision shows the "criminal, ugly face of the Israeli occupation."

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.