WITH the world attention on happenings in Iran, Israel is busy grabbing more Arab land in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Annexation does not apply to Gaza. Israel cannot ‘annex’ territory it already occupies and blockades. Call it what it is: military reoccupation, not annexation.

The United States, as has always been the case, is the biggest enabler. Through continued military aid, diplomatic cover at the United Nations Security Council, and bilateral agreements that legitimise occupier’s control, the American policy helps sustain Israeli actions.

Annexation, under international law, refers to the unilateral acquisition of territory over which a state has no prior legal right. The occupiers supposedly left Gaza in 2005 on paper only. Using ‘annexation’ mischaracterises the legal and historical relationship between occupation and Gaza, and obscures the fact that ‘Israel’ already controls Gaza’s borders, airspace and sea access.

The correct framework is one of occu-pation and siege; not annexation. One can only hope that Arab neighbours might wake up some day, and stop being supporters ­— direct or indirect — of the occupation.

Angabeen Ahmad
Karachi