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Source: https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Scorched-earth-and-international-law-562510
Palestinian Arson Attacks Breach International Law
(Jerusalem Post) Michael Cotler-Wunsh - In defiant breach of international law, the Palestinian "scorched earth" strategy - using balloons and kites flown over the border - has set fires ablaze that are ravaging Israel daily. This strategy of destroying the food of the civilian population in an area of conflict is banned under Article 54 of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva Conventions. The relevant passage states: "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population." If international law is to have any meaning at all, it is imperative that those who cherish international law hold those in outright breach of it accountable. The writer is a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya.