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Argument: Israel is occupying Gaza; blockade is illegal

Issue Report: Israeli blockade of Gaza

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Billie Bender. “Was Israel’s flotilla raid illegal or legally?” Tufts Roundtable. June 2nd, 2010: “If you support Gaza. Then you believe that Israel is ‘occupying’ Gaza, and Israel is in violation of international law because it is denying Gaza’s sovereign right to trade and aid.”

Douglas Guilfoyle, a specialist in international and maritime law at University College London: “The real question is: ‘Is the blockade itself lawful?’ Everything else turns on that […] [The blockade is illegal] if it will cause excessive damage to the civilian population in relation to the military advantage gained… so therefore intercepting a vessel on the high seas to support or enforce the blockade would not be lawful.”[1]

Anthony D’Amato, a professor of international law at Northwestern University School of Law said that there was no legal blockade because Gaza is an occupied territory.[2]