A very important and well-thought-out argument.  Thanks for posting this!

Wonderful and important post. My last line is particularly good.

Yes semantics are important, and I agree that what is happening cannot possibly be described as a genocide or a holocaust. But why stop at what this is not, why not take it a step further and determine, with semantic precision, what it is.

Would you qualify what Israel is doing in Gaza as a "Massacre"?

Would you qualify what Israel is doing in Gaza as a series of "War Crimes"?

Would you qualify what Israel is doing in Gaza as a "War of Agression"?

And finally,  would you consider what Israel is doing in Gaza as a "Genocidal Massacre"?

Israelis should be grateful that they are not serbs, otherwise, however we want to define things, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni would be on straight on their way to the International Criminal Court...

Let me take the position of one who specializing in international human rights law. The legal definition of genocide is proscribed in the 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Article 2 provides that genocide is: "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

While the term was coined by Raphael Lemkin in a book about the Nazis, it is clear from the 1948 definition adopted by the U.N. and most legal scholars that genocides have taken place throughout history. After all, more than 50 millions Africans were killed during slavery, many more in other parts of the world post-slavery (e.g., the Jim Crow South). In my field of work, I find that people use the terms genocide and holocaust (erroneously, but) interchangeably.

I am not writing to parse words. I am writing merely to point out that at some point the number of those killed and the ethnicity of the dead matters. Perhaps one military operation cannot constitute a genocide, but certainly repeated aggressive acts in violation of international law that result in the mass murder of one ethnic or religious civilian population can constitute genocide.

I posted a comment on Facebook the other day in response to another poster's comment, which sites Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, who stated in 2002, “The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.” If defeat in Israel's eyes means the death of the entire Palestinian population just to get a few terrorists, their action can constitute genocide.

(And before anyone ask, yes, I am fully aware of the comments made by Hamas and Iranian leaders--that their goal is the total destruction of the Israel. The difference, of course, is that neither the Iranians or Hamas have the ability to destroy Israel or murder all Jews. And, I seriously doubt that the world would stand by idly, as they did in WWII, while our Jewish allies are annihiliated. But I digress...)

In so far as mens rea--i.e., the actual intent of the perpetrator. It can be inferred from actor's very conduct or the end result of said conduct.

As a Muslim-American, I find this article very frustrating.  Take a moment and reflect how people are debating about what the word "genocide" and "holocaust" means while over 800 people are dead in Gaza.  Does it really matter what we call it?

Did any of you see "Hotel Rwanda?"  Remember that scene where they have politicians debating about what constitutes a genocide?  Do you think people who are suffering really care about what you call their suffering?

Have any of you been to the Palestinian settlements?  Do you know any ex-Israeli soldiers who are not even allowed back in Israel?  Do you know anything about the Israeli blockade on Gaza where 1.5 million Palestinians are deprived of basic necessities such as food, clean water, electricity, and health care?

I was at the protests for Gaza in Philadelphia recently, and when I came home, ABC News only interviewed the older Palestinians who could hardly speak English.  I interviewed the Jewish protesters and the younger and more articulate Palestinian protesters.  It's as if the media doesn't want to hear from intellectual and educated individuals from the Palestinian side.

I was at a counter-protest to the "Stand with Israel" rally as well.  Contrary to what many people may think (since there are so many stereotypes about Muslims, Arabs, and anyone else who supports the Palestinian people), we weren't there to ridicule or insult anyone.  We were there to engage in peaceful and mature dialogue.  Instead, we were met with shameless racism and persistent insults.  A man walked past my Palestinian friend and said to her, "We should have killed you all!"  Another man said to one of my non-Muslim female friends, "F- you!  Go F- yourself!"  Another man said to us, "you deserve to die, all of you are going to hell!"

I tried to interview some pro-Israeli suppporters but all they did was yell over me just because I was wearing a Palestinian scarf.  I wanted to discuss how we can get to peace, but they just shouted over me and didn't even bother to let me speak.  What do we see on the news?  Three full minutes of glorification and a full page in the Newspaper.

We've had three big rallies in Philadelphia so far for Gaza and we haven't received anything but 30 seconds to a minute.  Our words get cut out of the newspaper in favor of pro-Israel supporters saying "those Palestine supporters are terrorists."

When there are over 800 people dead in Gaza and all we're doing is standing up for them and calling an end to Israel's atrocity, it isn't helpful to debate about what we should label this situation.  When Palestinian protesters put "genocide" and "holocaust" on their signs, they are expressing their sentiments to years of Israeli military occupation where thousands of Palestinians have been killed and millions have been displaced.  They are not being sensational -- they don't even think about that.  They are thinking about the people who are being killed right now.

What Israel is doing right now is not helping and hopefully, we will see a change in how the U.S. deals with nations like Israel.  If we learn the history of Jerusalem -- when Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted for centuries, especially during Salah Al-Din's rule -- then we would understand that COMMUNICATING with one another is the best way to resolve these kind of problems.  We need to understand one another better.  No one attacks for no reason.  Get to the root cause. 

There is a wound in the Muslim and it is BLEEDING.  Why do we continue to ignore it?

I started to leave a comment and it became so long that I had to write a blog post:

http://www.isaacholeman.org/2009/01/11/what-is-genocide/

I agree with your statement Michelle that “I have yet to see anything that shows that Israel has set out to systematically wipe out the Palestinian people from the face of the planet.”

It seems to me that the subset of Palestinians who proscribe to a radical and violent version of Islam are a religiously/cultural/ideologically distinct group from other Palestinians, and that Israel would like to violently exterminate 100% of this radical group. By your definitions (and mine) this seems to constitute genocide, though only against a small subset of all of Palestinians.

In my blog post I go into detail about why naming this conflict genocide could be productive. If the label genocide helps us understand that the goal of this conflict is to drastically alter an entire cultural group/worldview (rather than just revenge or scare tactics), it becomes more clear (to me at least) that there are peaceful alternatives to promote culture change.

I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts.
cheers
Isaac

I'm sorry Isaac, but you demonstrate a lack of understanding about Islam.  I suggest you read Edward Said.

When Hamas kills innocent people, it is violating the rules of war in Islam, which are made clear in the Qur'an.  This is why it's best to move away from thinking the violence in the Muslim world is religiously motivated.

Read about post-colonial theory in Edward Said's work.  There is no such thing as "exterminating 100% of this radical group." Think of all those people who lost their families, children, and loved ones in Gaza.  What do you think will happen to them?  What do you think that does to people?  Violence begets violence -- this is understood even without religion.  If Israel wants to exterminate this radical group, then it might as well destroy the entire region because when you kill innocent people, there are always those around them who will seek vengeance.

If you want to read about evidence suggesting that the Israeli government wants to systematically wipe out the Palestinians, all you need to do is read what Israeli's defense ministers have said in the past.  Defense minister Matan Vilnai said, "the more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."

And how many more schools, Mosques, and children need to be bombed for you all to stop arguing over what to label this atrocity?

In fact the state of Israel only officially admitted the existance of Palestinians in 1993 with the signing of the Oslo accords.

Starting in 1947, it's clear that Israel's Zionist founders had every intention of eliminating Palestinian Arabs from historic Palestine, and mass murdered large numbers in order to accomplish this task.  They were very much attempting to extinguish them as a distinct cultural/religious/national group from that area.

This was accompanied the deliberate incitement against Palestinians as well as destruction of cultural artifacts, churches, mosques, cemetaries, and whole villages that marked the existence of Palestinians in the land, as well as the confiscation of land and denial of means of livelihood, specifically targetting Palestinians as a whole group, not just "radical and violent" followers of Islam.

"Cleansing" and "Purification" were terms used by Ben-Gurion and his cohorts to describe operations to get rid of Palestinians from their villages, these were not infrequently accompanied by killing members of the group in mass, for example, lining them up in front of their homes or near their village and shooting them (see e.g.  http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jerusalem/Dayr-Yasin/Story124.html: "The Jews ordered all our family to line up against the wall and they started shooting us. I was hit in the side, but most of us children were saved because we hid behind our parents. The bullets hit my sister Kadri [four] in the head, my sister Sameh [eight] in the cheek, my brother Mohammed [seven] in the chest. But all the others with us against the wall were killed: my father, my mother, my grandfather and grandmother, my uncles and aunts and some of their children.")  For years the official Israeli position was that the "Arabs" left their homes because they were urged to by the Arab governments.  Or that there were no such thing as Palestinians.  Every evidence says that the Zionist leadership had contemplated ways and means of getting rid of the Palestinian Arabs for a long time, including violent means, and then made full use of the cover of war to effect it.

Nor did the massacres and expulsion stop in 1948. 

In fact, the "radical and violent" followers of Islam such as Hamas weren't all that violent until after they were attacked, expelled, or imprisoned by Israel.  Akiva Eldar notes the violent turn of Hamas only following the murder of 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994 by off-duty Israeli army officer Baruch  Golstein and the killing of 25 more Palestinians in suppressing protests.

Nor is it correct to say that Israel only targets radical followers of Islam.  Yasir Arafat had in fact pretty much agreed to recognize Israel on the 1967 borders with some adjustments, however, instead of making peace with this Palestinian leader, Israel villified him for refusing a supposedly "generous" offer by Barak, and Arafat and whatever government forces he had were destroyed.

Now when Israel controls all the entries and exits to Gaza, and denies adequate food and clean water to the people there, causing mass malnutrition in children, or in a cooly calculated manner bombs UN schools where refugees were trying to escape other bombing, it just looks and smells like genocidal intent.  Not against the small subset of religous radicals, but against any Palestinian who claims the right to freedom and the right to live in their own homes in their own land.

What Israel is doing to the Palestinian people is Genocide.

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. – Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II

The Israeli Spokesman (Australian born!) Merk Regev, accepts that Hamas did NOT violate the Ceasefire UNTIL AFTER Israel attacked the Gaza Strip on the 4th November! This proves that it was ISRAEL that broke the ceasefire!



The following is a timeline of events leading to the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip that began on December 27 with Israel's aerial bombardment of Hamas-linked compounds in the coastal sliver:

2008

June 19: An Egyptian mediated ceasefire begins between Hamas and Israel. The Palestinian movement agrees to stop firing rockets as Israel accepts to gradually ease its embargo on the Gaza Strip.

July 27: Israel kills Shihab al-Natsheh, a senior Hamas fighter, in his house in the West Bank city of al-Khalil.

August 2: Three Hamas police officers and six pro-Fatah gunmen are killed in factional fighting in the Gaza Strip, the worst of such since June 2007.

October 8: Israel prevents Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) from entering the embattled Gaza Strip.

November 5: Israel raids houses in the Hamas-controlled region and arrests seven Palestinians.

Israel attacks areas inside Gaza, killing at least six Palestinians. Ghassan el-Taramse, a nineteen-year-old Palestinian activist, is killed in an Israeli air raid in the northern parts of the coastal sliver.

Palestinians fire several dozen rockets and mortar shells at western Negev in Israel in retaliation. No casualties or property damage is caused, but three women are treated for shock.

November 8: Israel violates the ongoing truce as its tanks and bulldozers cross the southern border of the Gaza Strip.

November 14: Hamas fires a barrage of homemade rockets at the city of Ashkelon. Four rockets are also fired into western Negev after Israeli air strikes wounded two people in Gaza.

November 15: Israeli air strike kills two Palestinians in the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza.

November 18: Israeli tanks backed by a bulldozer and a military jeep roll half a kilometer into Gaza. The Israeli army claims the incursion is "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip."

November 20: An Israeli tank fires shells, killing a Palestinian fighter east of Gaza City.

November 23: The Israeli army wounds two Palestinian residents while shelling homes in various cities in the strip.

November 28: Israeli forces backed by tanks enter the southern parts of the coastal region and kill two Palestinians.

November 29: Projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip wound eight Israeli soldiers in an army base in the town of Nahal Uz.

December 02: The Israeli army launches air strikes into southern Gaza and kills at least two civilians and wounding four others.

December 17: Five Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip injure two Israelis in the southern town of Sderot.

December 18: A Palestinian man is killed in Jabaliya as Israeli aircraft target metal workshops in the towns of Jabaliya and Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military claims the targets are used to manufacture rockets.

December 19: The six-month truce officially ends.

December 20: Israeli launches air strikes on the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, killing one Palestinian and wounding two others.

December 21: Palestinian fighters fire rockets into Sderot and Negev and one Israeli is wounded.

December 22: A twenty-four hour truce is declared between Israel and armed Palestinian factions at the request of Egyptian mediators.

December 23: The twenty-four hour truce expires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYhGYZxl-f8

Israel supporters will tell you they never impose members intended to prevent births among Palestinians.  Just, I guess, live births - when they prevent pregnant women at checkpoints from going to the hospital. 

Then, of course, there's killing people by buring them alive with bulldozers in the rubble of their homes.  Unintentional, I'm sure they'll tell you.  And the killing of Palestinian kids for sport - well, if you can taunt a 12-year-old into throwing a stone at at tank from 200 yards away, then he's obviously a terrorist and legitimate subject for target practice. 

I know, how dare those Palestinians reject the notion that Israel has the right to expel them from their homes.  And then they have the gall to demand the right to return, which is equivalent demanding the destruction of Israel. How about using white phosphorous, for burning alive Palestinian babies?  They're terrorists, after all.

Israel admits No Hamas rockets were fired during ceasefire
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=yYhGYZxl-f8
Relief Boat Rammed While Attempting To Deliver Supplies To Gaza! Cynthia McKinney On Board
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=y3zKeD_Q09g
Israeli Military Bombs TWO United Nations Run Schools!
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=vEqxFvOFKII
GAZA Ground Attack -Israel Targets Ambulances, Medics
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=9vjmNWCJXNg
Israel and international law
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=VDmLrOUKnpE
Israel Has Killed 3 Times As Many Civilians As They Have Hamas Fighters!
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=q120Qit8joo
Israel Bombs "SAFEHOUSE" It Told Civilians To Go To! With More Than 100 Inside!
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=Nwd7i5JRRfE
Israel Blocks Rescue Workers from Reaching Palestinean Homes
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=FQFSomkDKus
Headzup: Joe The Plumber- War Correspondent
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=G0DtPQpbP08
AC360 Finally Reports Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=AGvJIAufzO8

So lets see what Laws has Israel broken? Attacked UN: Check,
Broken Geneva Convention: Check, Attacked without UN Approval: Check, Used Biological Weapons: Check, White Phosphorus.


I don't think I need to go on? do I?

@J D,

Sorry for responding so slowly, I didn't realize I wasn't getting email updates of comments. You say

<em>When Hamas kills innocent people, it is violating the rules of war in Islam... it's best to move away from thinking the violence in the Muslim world is religiously motivated.</em>

Astute comment and I agree with the first part; I was already well aware that Islam, like Christianity, does not condone killing of innocent people. However, arguing that this means the fighting is not religiously motivated is as innacurate as saying that the Crusades were not religiously motivated (because my interpretation of Christianity would certainly not condone the crusades). You could argue that Hamas doesn't really proscribe to Islam, or that it isn't "real" or "pure" Islam, in the same way that I think George Bush hardly acts like a Christian.

You might understand my ideas more thoroughly if you read my blog post; I'd like to be clear that I do not support Israel's violence in Palestine. I don't think it is possible to use violence to eradicate a violent ideology. My observation was that perhaps Israel THINKS they are going to eradicate this ideology by killing people. Many Americans seem to think that there is a tight little group that you can easily identify (in very black and white terms) as terrorists and violent extremists, and if we just murder that group until they don't exist anymore there will somehow be less violence in the world (I would call this genocidal intent).

I am amazed that someone such as the author of this piece can say that the war in Gaza is NOT genocide! The Israeli's have in mind the EXTERMINATION of all Palestinians-which is why they are committing the kind of war crimes they are, such as sealing them off from any outside help including medical help (that is a war crime, look it up), cutting off water and electricity and targeting civilians! How could any right minded person say that this is not meant to exterminate the people who live there? I am appalled at how obtruse some can be when talking about Israel and the Palestinians! I'm sure I will be accused of "Anti-Semitism" which I am so sick of hearing! No one can criticize Israel's policy toward the Palestinians without being called anti semitic. The purpose of this slur is to shut down any more dialog about the issue and to silence! I am not anti semitic (Palestinians are semites, by the way) and I want Israel to exist. I have a right to criticize it when it is wrong, which is surely is in what it's doing now in Gaza!

I agree with the last post.  It's genocide.  That's the wish and the aim.

I try to understand the arguments of peaceful muslims as good as possible. But whenever an islamistic group gets under attack the muslim world joins in solidarity instead of condemmning the terrorists which according to peaceful muslims don't act as if "Islam means peace" and critizise those who fight violently against those. How do you want to stop Hamas killing Fatah members,Christians and Israelis? Peaceful muslims are worldwide victims of islamistic terrorists. As a christian I condemned the "Crusade" of Bush and do everything against fundamental christians who do not preach the gospel of love. Millions of christians have made the change possible and voted against Bush and his false christian preaching. What are muslims doing who preach that "Islam is Peace"?

When Arabs get attacked by Israel, they talk about genocide. Now for several years the arabic world keeps silent about the genocide commited on Africans by Arabs. As a German who is very serious about genocide I beg the free world ,all people of this world who are against this horrible killing of innocent people to act against those criminals who are even  worse than the German nazis of the past. Why have Arabs the right to kill Africans just because they are Africans and the world watches without acting . This is global racism.

What does that mean, Arno?  Does it mean that we're supposed to ignore what's going on in Palestine?  Maybe if the Palestinians weren't getting bombed and massacred, they would be able to do a lot more about what's going on in Darfur.

It's very offensive when people try to compare situations.  I don't like comparing because it's as if you're discrediting or downplaying someone else's experiences.  Yes, Muslims are killing Muslims in Darfur, but we're talking about Gaza in this particular post.  Deal with one topic at a time.  If you want to talk about Dafur, we can, but please leave out your generalizations about Arabs.

Do you know every single Arab in the world?  No, so how do you know Arabs don't say anything about Darfur?  We have fundraisers at our Mosques and there are plenty of Muslims who attend the Walk for Darfur events in their major cities. 

It's like if an Arab girl in the United States gets beat up in a hate crime, the police officer says to her, "well hey, you Arabs commit genocide against Africans."  Does that make any sense at all to you?  Deal with every subject individually.  Don't make comparisions in order to downplay someone else's. As one of my friends put it:  "what is this?  Oppression olympics?"

I suggest that you check yourself and make sure you don't have racial issues that you need to work out.

The israeli minister of defense said they would unleash a holocaust that would not stop till every member of Hamas was dead.Not genocide?Admit to what your people are actually doing.They have hit every UN building in Gaza.Invoking the holocaust said everything there was to say.The victims have become worse than anything they ever endured.The murder of women and children is every bit as evil as anything the Nazi's did to your people.You have seen the enemy and it is you.

The israeli minister of defense said they would unleash a holocaust that would not stop till every member of Hamas was dead.Not genocide?Admit to what your people are actually doing.They have hit every UN building in Gaza.Invoking the holocaust said everything there was to say.The victims have become worse than anything they ever endured.The murder of women and children is every bit as evil as anything the Nazi's did to your people.You have seen the enemy and it is you.