Against Forcible Transfer in Gaza
[translation of column published in Haaretz 26.11.2023]
We belong to the group of Israeli philosophers who recently put forth a sharp response to the open letter by tens of Oxford academics directed to Britain’s PM and to the head of its opposition. In our response, we firmly rejected accusations leveled against Israel’s actions in its war against Hamas.
One of these accusations was that Israel is committing a “war crime” in forcing the residents of Gaza, on a very large scale, to leave the places where they live. We agreed that Israel bears responsibility for displacing more than a million Gaza residents. But we emphasized that, contrary to the claim in the said “open letter”, Israel deserves - on account of this responsibility - praise rather than blame, since it reflects a legitimate and worthy effort to prevent or reduce harm to civilians.
We are however appalled to hear not-insignificant voices amongst members of the coalition and even of the government, who seek to confer upon this displacement an entirely different meaning. A request is being voiced that the displacement of Gaza’s residents be not temporary but rather permanent, accompanied by requests for renewed Israeli settlement of the “Katif” enclave or for Israeli settlement in other areas of the Gaza strip.
In our public defense of Israel’s actions, we wrote:
“The [Oxford] letter entirely misrepresents the situation, implying that Israel just wants to permanently transfer the Palestinian population, while Israel’s clearly stated aim is to try to limit, under the conditions of war, the harm done to them. This is entirely legitimate and indeed seems morally requisite, provided that the displacement is in fact temporary, with a commitment to allow the population to return soon, once the fighting is over”.
However, the lack of a clear Israeli plan for what shall transpire in Gaza in the wake of the fighting, combined with the above-mentioned voices, gives rise to a grave concern lest the displacement of Gaza’s residents – being now extended to more southern areas – will indeed turn out to have been a grievous war crime. Even if not falling within the definition of “genocide”, it would still be defined as a “crime against humanity”. In order to confirm – in the face of this -- the legitimacy of the IDF’s actions and to prevent grievous accusations against its officers and soldiers, and in order to prevent the state of Israel from sliding into a moral abyss, we demand that Israel’s government and the heads of its defense establishment clarify unequivocally and without delay that:
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Israel’s demand that Gaza’s residents leave the places where they live is temporary, relating only to the duration of the fighting. Once the fighting ends in the coming months, Israel is unequivocally committed to enable return of the full population to the areas it had evacuated, subject to agreed-upon security arrangements. To that end, we shall support the establishment of a peace-seeking Palestinian self-rule, which shall represent all residents of Gaza, promote their welfare, and ensure rehabilitation of the infrastructure and buildings destroyed during the war, restoring them for full civilian use.
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Israel has no intention of settling Israelis in the Gaza strip, whether in locations of the former Katif enclave or in any other locations, including those whose residents were temporarily displaced in accordance with the demand made by Israel.
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Consequently, accusations against Israel that it purportedly bears responsibility for mass displacement, “ethnic cleansing” or the like – are entirely baseless. What was done involved strictly temporary measures aimed at fulfilling Israel’s moral and legal obligation, expressed also in the IDF code, to do all it can to prevent harm to non-combatants.
Professor Itzhak Benbaji, Law Faculty, Tel Aviv University
Professor Michael Gross, School of Political Science, Haifa University
Professor David Heyd, Department of Philosophy, Hebrew University
Professor Noam Zohar, Department of Philosophy, Bar Ilan University