The Jabalia doctrine: Genocide as a counterinsurgency policy by Raja Abdulhaq

54. 
    Since the 7 October attack, Israel has adopted genocide as a population-centric counterinsurgency strategy. While this follows Israel’s historical perpetration of ethnic cleansing during the Nakba in 1948, the objectives of these two events are distinct.
56. During the Nakba, ethnic cleansing was used as a tactic to displace Palestinians from their lands to make space for the new European settlers. This displacement was a fundamental part of the settler-colonial project, as without it, establishing a new colony would have been impossible.
58. However, what has been unfolding in Gaza in the past year, especially in the north and in Jabalia recently, is a genocide aimed at the total subjugation of Palestinians, forcing them to surrender. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly stated that the goal is to deradicalise Gaza through war. This gruesome counterinsurgency tactic is reminiscent of the methods of classic colonialism.