Questions and Answers
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Question:
Israel has been accused of violating the laws of war during the Gaza fighting. What are these laws, and is the accusation true? |
Answer:
Israel, during the fighting in Gaza, has taken greater steps than any other army in recent history to try and prevent enemy civilian casualties. The laws of war were formulated when armies in uniforms were battling other armies in uniform, usually in open fields. Israel is facing an enemy often dressed as civilians, hiding among civilian buildings and aiming its fire deliberately and cold-bloodedly at Israeli civilian targets. The classic laws of war can provide only general principles as to how to combat such an enemy. These principles include the rule that an army should only target combatants and military objectives; if there are civilians close to military targets, efforts must be made to minimize civilian casualties; and the civilian casualties may not be disproportionate to the military advantage to be gained. Israel has strictly applied these rules, and the Israeli army is one of the few armies in the world to have legal advisers in battle command centers, posted there to ensure compliance with these rules. Israel has repeatedly warned civilians of impending attacks, allowing them time to flee, even though the element of surprise was lost and no doubt also given the enemy combatants the opportunity to flee. |
Question:
What is MASHAV |
Answer:
MASHAV, Israel’s official international development cooperation program, was launched in late 1957 with the aim of sharing with the rest of the developing world the know-how and technologies which provided the basis for Israel’s own rapid development. MASHAV, the Hebrew acronym for Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, was established as a division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What started as a modest program focused on grassroots-level human capacity building at a time when Israel itself was still very much a developing country, has blossomed into an extensive program of cooperation throughout the developing world with the aim of ensuring social, economic and environmental sustainable development. Since its establishment, MASHAV has trained close to 270,000 course participants from approximately 132 countries in Israel and abroad and has developed dozens of demonstration projects worldwide. MASHAV has consistently made its priority the goals of :- a) poverty alleviation, b) provision of food security, c) empowerment of women and d) upgrade of basic health and education services. |