Readjusting its own previous assessment of the situation in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s 2005 unilateral ‘disengagement,’ Gisha’s paper maintains that the international law of occupation currently applies in the Gaza Strip only insofar as Israel persists in directly exercising governmental powers over the territory and population of the Gaza Strip. Gisha’s paper asserts that where governmental powers are exercised by the Palestinian authorities, Israel’s obligations flow from a different legal framework identified as “post-occupation obligations,” which provides protection to the civilian population during transition from occupation to the “fulfilment of lawful sovereignty.” In reaching these conclusions, which the paper claims to do by applying “accepted international law doctrines,” it challenges some of the most basic rules and principles of international law, including the law of belligerent occupation.

Al-Haq’s rejoinder to Gisha’s paper seeks to examine these conclusions by reiterating the applicable framework applicable to Israel’s continued responsibility as the Occupying Power in the Gaza Strip in accordance with what is prescribed by international law and widely accepted by the international community, including the United Nations, the ICRC and individual States.

Read ‘Al-Haq’s Rejoinder to Gisha’s ‘Scale of Control’ Report: Israel’s Continued Responsibility as the Occupying Power in the Gaza Strip’.

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