Genocide - Alarmingly Close in Gaza
When Does It Become Genocide?
By NADIA HIJAB
"....genocide scholar and author Adam Jones and 15 other scholars had posted a declaration stating that Israeli policies were "too alarmingly close" to genocide to ignore and calling for an end to the silence.
Alarmingly close is right.
Here is how Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish legal scholar who pushed for the genocide convention, defined it in 1943:
"genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation.... It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."
It is hard to conceive of a better description of what is going on in Gaza.
All UN member states have the duty to prevent and stop acts of genocide.
What is needed is a country brave enough to take the lead, before it is too late.
Nadia Hijab is an independent analyst and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Continue
When Does It Become Genocide?
By NADIA HIJAB
"....genocide scholar and author Adam Jones and 15 other scholars had posted a declaration stating that Israeli policies were "too alarmingly close" to genocide to ignore and calling for an end to the silence.
Alarmingly close is right.
Here is how Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish legal scholar who pushed for the genocide convention, defined it in 1943:
"genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation.... It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."
It is hard to conceive of a better description of what is going on in Gaza.
All UN member states have the duty to prevent and stop acts of genocide.
What is needed is a country brave enough to take the lead, before it is too late.
Nadia Hijab is an independent analyst and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Continue
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