The destruction of the environment inevitably is the destruction of human life, too. And to describe what Israel has reduced Gaza to, we have yet another word: ecocide.
Stop Ecocide International describes ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”
In my video and podcast episode, I claim that using this concept doesn’t diminish the horrors of the mass atrocities committed.
It actually expands the description of the formats, objects, and the very level itself of Israel’s annihilation of Gaza.
Correction/explanation: In my video, I say that the UN Inquiry, which has concluded that Israel is indeed committing genocide, focused more on Gaza’s healthcare system. The Inquiry talks about the destruction of various structures, the land itself, and parts of the infrastructure in Gaza, not only Gaza’s healthcare system. However, obstruction of access to healthcare is used to illustrate how Israel meets another criterion for committing genocide: imposing measures intended to prevent births, and not only (“only”) deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part.
Resources to explore:
- Gaza Strip: 98.5 percent of cropland unavailable for cultivation as famine looms, by FAO
- Israeli military uproots thousands of Palestinian olive trees in West Bank, by Al Jazeera
- The Ecocide of Palestine, by Vanessa Far, published at WILPF
- Ecocide: Israel’s Deliberate and Systematic Environmental Destruction in Gaza, by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
- Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries, by The Guardian
- Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds, by The UN
- World’s Biggest Polluter is in the US, Study Finds, by Newsweek
- Sumud Podcast (the episode with Dr. Rania Masri is here)
You can share the clip that I quote in my video with Dr. Rania here:
As always: stay strong, check on others, and keep your heart open.
❤️💔❤️
Justina
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