After World War II, an initiative to develop a rules-based international system was led by likeminded allies and partners. It has produced unprecedented levels of peace, prosperity, and freedom, but it is coming under increasing strain.
During a day-long open debate, on 23 MAY 2023, Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council about the need for greater respect for international humanitarian law through action and accountability.
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), pointed out that development and peace become unachievable when conflicts are characterized by widespread destruction and international humanitarian law violations. In that regard, all parties engaged in urban warfare must prioritize civilian protection, avoid the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas and ensure essential services. States and other actors must also reduce the risk of food insecurity and invest in practical solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change in conflict-affected regions. (International Laws Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict Not Being Upheld, Secretary-General Warns Security Council, Urging Deadly Cycle Be Broken | UN Press, 2023)
Jeffrey Cimmino and Matthew Kroenig, writing for the Atlantic Council, notes the role of the rules based international system to place limits on the use of military force and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The rules-based international system was constructed mostly by leading democratic allies at the end of World War II, and was deepened and expanded by many other countries over time. The system is predicated on a set of norms and principles pertaining to global security, the economy, and governance. It consists of: a set of rules encouraging peaceful, predictable, and cooperative behavior among states that is consistent with liberal values and principles; formal institutional bodies, such as the United Nations (UN) and NATO, that serve to legitimize and uphold these rules, and provide a forum to discuss and settle disputes; and the role of powerful democratic states to help preserve and defend the system. In the security realm, the system is characterized by formal alliances in Europe and Asia, in addition to rules that protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and place limits on the use of military force and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. (Cimmino, 2020)
Thomas Watkins reports for the National News UAE that In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks, Mr Biden put any political differences aside and repeatedly pledged unflinching support for Israel without referencing the civilian deaths in Gaza, where more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes.
On Wednesday, though, he signalled his support had some limitations, saying Israel should follow “the rules of war”. Israel has already flattened large parts of Gaza and has cut off food and water to the territory's 2.3 million people. (Watkins, 2023)
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, comments that if the Israeli government responds to this moment like George W Bush, it will soon follow the route of his government from global sympathy to global outrage.
It is a basic premise of international humanitarian law that war crimes by one side do not justify war crimes by the other. Of necessity, given the passions, charges and counter-charges of most wars, the duty to comply with the rules designed to spare civilians as much as possible the hazards of war is absolute, not contingent on the behavior of opponents.
The Israeli government already seems to be flouting those rules. The declared siege of Gaza, blocking food, water and electricity, violates the duty to allow humanitarian aid to civilians in need, as the people of Gaza certainly are as they suffer massive Israeli bombardment. In the first day of those airstrikes, the Israeli military targeted four large apartment towers. In the past, Israel has purported to justify such attacks because of an ostensible Hamas office somewhere in the complex, but the civilian cost of rendering hundreds of Palestinians homeless is wholly disproportionate. One attack hit a market, reportedly killing dozens. The UN says two hospitals have been hit. (Roth, 2023)
Moustafa Bayoumi, author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror, professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York and a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian US, comments that Biden and Zelenskiy support a war they say was ‘unprovoked’ but a defenseless population will pay for media misinformation. Bayoumi asks “What exactly counts as a provocation?”
Not, apparently, the large number of settlers, more than 800 by one media account, who stormed al-Aqsa mosque on 5 October. Not the 248 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers between 1 January and 4 October of this year. Not the denial of Palestinian human rights and national aspirations for decades.
One can, in fact must, see such actions as provocations without endorsing further murderous violence against civilians. But if you watched only US news, you would be likely to presume that Palestinians always act while Israel only reacts. You might even think that Palestinians are the ones colonizing the land of Israel, no less. And you probably believe that Israel, which holds ultimate control over the lives of 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and yet denies them the right to vote in Israeli elections, is a democracy.
To be considered a political being you must at the very least be considered a human being. Who gets to count as human? “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said. Human animals? How can such language and an announced policy of collective punishment against all the residents of Gaza be seen by Israel’s supporters in the United States or elsewhere as defensible? Let’s be clear: Gallant’s language is not the rhetoric of deterrence. It’s the language of genocide. (Bayoumi, 2023)
The armed conflict that is threatening to kill many civilians in Gaza requires that we identify some of the international rules intended to protect civilians that will likely be violated.
References
Bayoumi, M. (2023, October 11). The double standard with Israel and Palestine leaves us in moral darkness | Moustafa Bayoumi. The Guardian. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/11/israel-palestine-war-biden-zelenskiy
Cimmino, J. (2020, December 16). Strategic context: The rules-based international system. Atlantic Council. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/strategic-context-the-rules-based-international-system/
International Laws Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict Not Being Upheld, Secretary-General Warns Security Council, Urging Deadly Cycle Be Broken | UN Press. (2023, May 23). UN Press. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15292.doc.htm
Roth, K. (2023, October 11). The attack on Israel has been called a '9/11 moment'. Therein lies a cautionary tale | Kenneth Roth. The Guardian. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/israel-hamas-attack-gaza-9-11-cautionary-tale
Watkins, T. (2023, October 12). The Middle East crisis Joe Biden hoped he would avoid. The National. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2023/10/12/the-middle-east-crisis-joe-biden-hoped-he-would-avoid/
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