Beirut, Lebanon – Israeli and Palestinian commentators and foreign officials are using the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe what Israel is doing in Gaza.
Israel has reportedly entirely blocked humanitarian aid from entering northern Gaza, escalated bombardments of refugee camps and hospitals, and called on all remaining inhabitants of the area to flee south.
Israel’s military spokesperson Itzik Cohen said nobody who leaves the north will be able to return.
United Nations agencies estimated that 69,000 to 100,000 people are still in northern Gaza.
The Israeli daily Haaretz has referred to Israel’s campaign as “ethnic cleansing”.
Josep Borrell, the top European Union diplomat, has tweeted: “Words like ‘ethnic cleansing’ are increasingly being used to describe what is taking place in northern Gaza.”
But what is ethnic cleansing? Does it apply to Israel’s actions in Gaza? And will calling it out lead to any justice?
Here’s all you need to know about the term and whether it adequately describes Israel’s policy in Gaza:
What is ethnic cleansing?
Ethnic cleansing refers to a stronger party removing an ethnic group from its land and sometimes replacing them with another demographic.
The goal often stated for this is to “ethnically homogenise” a region or territory.
The term does not exist in international humanitarian law but suggests that a number of crimes against humanity and war crimes are being committed at once, according to legal scholars.
One such crime against humanity is the forceful transfer of a population.
Is that the same as genocide?
“Ethnic cleansing is often used as a euphemism for genocide because the language of genocide is politically charged,” Heidi Matthews, assistant professor of law at York University in Toronto, told Al Jazeera.
Most attempts to “cleanse” a population entail more war crimes, including genocide, Matthews explained, adding that acknowledging it as such triggers a legal obligation on all states to “prevent and punish” genocide.
“Ethnic cleansing … sort of obliquely refers to various sorts of criminality without saying anything about whether the violence in question is being committed with an intent to destroy a protected group in whole or in part, which is the essential marker of genocide,” she…