© Nedal Eshtayah/ APA
A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to throw stones towards an Israeli military truck on September 5, 2014 during clashes with Israeli security forces following a protest in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the northern city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
I am beginning to think one of the reasons the Israeli occupation has endured for so long is that we insist on speaking of it as an occupation. Let's stop doing that.
When you speak of an occupation, you are walking into the hands of the hasbara people. An occupation, they will remind you - at least, the more subtle of them will - is actually legal. Countries may occupy parts of other countries during warfare. Occupations are supposed to be short:
The basic concept of the laws of war is that wars end, often quickly. Once the war ends, the territories occupied have to be restored to their owners. Much as many Israelis lament it, after World War II the bastards changed the rules and it's no longer legal to obtain territories by force.
The assumption that occupation is supposed to be short, however, is unenforceable. As long as we stick to the paradigm of occupation, Israel will claim (legally, correctly) that it stands in the shoes of the sovereign; that it has valid security concerns; and, using the loophole of "security concerns", will basically do whatever it pleases with the territories.
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