Israel’s war on Gaza has made genocide an accepted weapon of war. We’re already seeing it in Sudan. – Mondoweiss Israel’s genocide in Gaza set a global norm that views extermination as a 'natural' part of how nations and paramilitary groups wage war. We are already seeing this in Sudan.
The following is an English translation of the opening editorial of the Winter 2026 issue of Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyyah (the Arabic-language Journal of Palestine Studies, published by the Institute for Palestine Studies). Mondoweiss has reprinted the English version with permission. Translated by Muhammad Ali Khalidi. In the editorial of the Fall 2025 issue of Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyyah, we laid out the following analysis: “What has happened and is happening in this war waged by Israel on the Palestinian people is completely recasting international political relations and is inaugurating a new world order. It is also forging a new vocabulary of war, which will become the basis of new wars, constituting a break with the wars of previous times and places. States have clearly picked up on the signal that red lines can now be transgressed. Future combatants will see a ‘golden’ opportunity in light of the world’s silence regarding the crimes against the Palestinian people, and will reason that if such crimes recur in future wars and conflicts, the world will remain silent.” In composing, analyzing, and discussing this text, we had expected that this would transpire only after a long time had elapsed. The blood of Gaza has not yet dried, the devastation has not yet been repaired, and people remain without shelter, clinic, or school, yet this prognosis has already come to pass. The ceasefire is merely an attempt to quell the international movement opposing Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians, and to rehabilitate Israel politically and reposition it militarily. Two years of annihilation met by unprecedented complicity and quiescence in official circles have raised the bar of violent criminality in war. The war that broke out in Sudan before October 2023 spiraled out of control once the genocidal character of Israel’s aggression in Gaza came to light, in keeping with the deathly silence against the daily crimes against civilians. What is happening in Gaza and Sudan can be considered a kind of contagion of extreme genocidal violence to achieve military and political goals. The party carrying out genocide in both cases authorizes the killing of civilians without the need to consider international condemnation. In Israel’s case, the extermination is a culmination of a long series of genocidal actions, including the massacres of 1948 in Palestine, the Bahr al-Baqar primary school massacre in Egypt (1970), the massacre of Qana in Lebanon (1996), Operation “Defensive Shield” in the West Bank (2002), among many others — to say nothing of the ongoing Judaization and colonization of Palestine. The war in Gaza has firmly established that the international legal, moral, and political order contains a double standard and was never meant to serve the needs of weaker nations and societies. Once these Israeli actions reached their murderous zenith in the present, challenging international law, other forces around the world were given license to carry out similar criminal actions. The destruction of people and livelihoods has become the “natural” conduct of many states, as well as military and paramilitary forces. These actions of genocide and annihilation have been carried out under the usual pretexts of war, politics, antisemitism, and “existential threats.” The world has not drawn any lessons or taken any action in the face of the murder of tens of thousands of civilians in Palestine, Sudan, and other so-called “conflict zones.” The war in Gaza has firmly established that the international legal, moral, and political order contains a double standard and was never meant to serve the needs of weaker nations and societies. Rather, the international order was founded to enable the devastation of these societies once the great powers succeeded in eviscerating its content by demonizing those who preside over it. What is happening in Gaza and the other genocides in the region should stir the sages of the world to uphold the international order that is meant to protect vulnerable people in times of conflict, and to safeguard international courts and juridical bodies. This should be seen as a precautionary measure to disrupt future genocidal parties, so that annihilation of peoples does not become an instrument of war. The war has not yet ended in Palestine, Lebanon, or Syria, and the drums of war are still beating in Israel and presaging the opening of new fronts along its borders and in the region at large. The deceitful “20-Point Plan” announced on September 29, 2025, by U.S. President Donald Trump only twisted the knife in the wound. It can only be described as a diabolical attempt to undermine the unparalleled international solidarity with Palestine, which has resulted in Israel being ostracized and branded a genocidal state. Israel’s war on Gaza has not stopped; the ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, was merely a continuation of war by other means. In essence, there is a clear decision to continue the war, since it embodies the policy of extermination embraced by the current rulers of Israel. It is also keeping them in power; that is what saves them from committees of inquiry, prosecution, resignation, and elections. The pretext of an “existential threat” deployed by the Israeli system of propaganda and hasbara is an attempt to distract the Israeli public; it is also an effective tool to achieve their genocidal aims and to eliminate the right of self-determination and the right of return for Palestinians. To be sure, after the ceasefire announcement, the daily death toll for Palestinians declined, as did the number of bombs falling on the people and the remaining buildings in Gaza. But the war has not really come to an end. As of December 8, 2025, 60 days after the ceasefire took effect, 738 ceasefire violations had been recorded, including 205 incidents of firing on civilians, 38 incursions by military vehicles into inhabited areas, 358 bombings of civilians, 138 acts of destruction of civilian buildings, resulting in the killing of 386 Palestinians, to say nothing of the prevention of entry of basic necessities into Gaza, in clear violation of the original ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the situation deteriorates by the day. Special forces units of the Israeli military recently executed two men, al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah, 26, and Yusuf ‘Asasah, 37, in the Jabal Abu Dhayr neighborhood in Jenin, after they had surrendered by raising their hands in the air, clearly indicating that they were not going to resist arrest. This act of execution was just the latest in a series in our recent history. It brings to mind the incident of the “Bus 300 Affair” (or “Kav 300 Affair”) in 1984, the execution of Abdul Fattah Sharif by Israeli soldier Elor Azarya in Hebron in 2016, and the cold-blooded assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022 in Jenin. With this background in place, it should come as no surprise that Israeli parliamentarians are competing to introduce legislation in the Knesset that would authorize the execution of Palestinian prisoners. Such legislation would provide legal cover for a practice that occurs routinely at checkpoints, as well as in mosques, homes, and on the streets. In Lebanon, too, Israel persists in violating the cessation of hostilities agreement that came into effect on November 27, 2024, with daily attacks, as well as with its continued occupation of several outposts in southern Lebanon. In Syria, meanwhile, in the wake of the collapse of the Asad regime in December 2024, Israel has attacked over 300 positions of the Syrian military, destroying some of its capabilities. It has simultaneously announced the termination of the disengagement agreement of May 31, 1974, and infiltrated and occupied Syrian territory, carrying out almost daily incursions into Syrian villages, attacking, seizing captives, and (sometimes) withdrawing. All this has occurred alongside Israeli strikes on Yemen, threats to hit Iraq, and the wide-scale attack on Iran. The assault on the Qatari capital of Doha occurred despite the role that Qatar has played in attempting to mediate a diplomatic agreement to end the war in Gaza. It should have become obvious that, by pursuing this policy of aggression, Israel has embraced the Trump doctrine of “peace through strength.” This is borne out in both Lebanon and Gaza under the guise of a ceasefire, in the West Bank through the intimidation of the population, and in Syria by consecrating expansion and the imposition of “neutral” zones. What Israel and its backers want is the complete subjugation of its neighbors and the imposition of terms of surrender. Similarly, Israel justified its attack on Doha on the pretext that it was targeting the Hamas negotiating delegation, sending a message to the entire region that it crosses red lines with abandon, in an attempt to impose a balance of power on the region. That was also one of the aims of Israel’s war on Iran, although Iran’s measured and proportionate response may have frustrated this goal, forcing the United States to intervene directly to end it decisively. What Israel and its backers want is the complete subjugation of its neighbors and the imposition of terms of surrender on them, rather than a peaceful settlement with them. The region has reached a boiling point, and the international community, in its apparent efforts to defuse the situation, is also attempting to recalibrate the balance of power in favor of the West, enshrining Israel as the overlord of the states of the region. Israel’s interests, along with those of a few other states, have come to determine the fate of the region’s nations, borders, and resources. Editorial Committee of Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya (MDF) is a peer-reviewed periodical published quarterly by the Institute for Palestine Studies since 1990. MDF is printed in Beirut and simultaneously reprinted in Ramallah for distribution in Palestine, Arab countries, and globally. 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