What Is the Dahiya Doctrine?
In the 2006 Lebanon War, Israel Defense Force Northern Commander Gadi Eisenkot, now the deputy chief of general staff, recommended and had approved the application of a military strategy that would target and destroy an entire civilian area rather than fight to overtake fortified positions one by one. This was in an effort to minimize IDF casualties while at the same time holding the entire civilian populace accountable for the actions of a few. A move some called revolutionary in modern warfare, the doctrine did away with the effort to distinguish between militant and civilian, using an overwhelming display of force through airstrikes to destroy the entire Lebanese Dahiya quarter.
The strategy itself calls for the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in order to induce suffering and severe distress throughout the targeted population. By targeting indiscriminately, the IDF hopes to deter further military attacks against Israel, destroy its enemies, as well as influence the population to oust the militants seen as the primary target. The IDF has planned on using the strategy since 2008, and is seen as doing so in the current conflict in Gaza based on the increasing number of civilian casualties. The result so far has been the death of more than 1,200 Palestinians, including 241 children and 130 women. Of the estimated death count, more than 70 percent have been identified as innocent civilians. The Dahiya Doctrine amounts to the direct use of state terrorism and is now the functioning military policy of the IDF.
The destruction of locations such as UN Relief and Works Agency shelters, mosques and residences of unaffiliated individuals is at minimum an agreed upon collateral objective in addition to the Hamas tunnel system and the militants themselves.
The IDF argues that it has no other choice because Hamas uses locations such as these to shield military activities, making detection more difficult. After the 2008 Gaza War, the UN deployed a fact-finding mission to conduct an investigation into allegations made by both sides. The UN issued the "Goldstone Report," which said among other things that, "On the basis of the investigations it has conducted, the Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes." One alleged war crime (hiding among the civilian population) does not give rise for the justification of another: the killing of women, children and civilians. Even now, artillery shells struck a second UN shelter resulting in civilian casualties and attacks against a power plant may have killed 15 workers trapped inside and may effectively eliminate electricity for the majority of the population.
A Policy of War Crime
State terrorism, "establishment terrorism" or "terrorism from above" is generally understood to mean the systematic and intentional use of violence against either military or civilian targets meant to create a climate of fear in a population in order to bring about a specific political objective. The idea itself can be traced back as far as recorded warfare, but no consensus currently exists because states view themselves as legitimate actors, and therefore incapable of being terrorists. Bruce Hoffman argues that there is a "fundamental qualitative difference between the two types of violence" (state and non-state actors), and that the norms and rules of war followed by states preclude various tactics from being implemented, and as such prohibits the notion of state-sponsored terrorism. While there is a qualitative difference between Israeli and Palestinian violence, namely the overwhelming suffering the Dahiya Doctrine is meant to create, there is also a severe quantitative difference in that IDF war making machines are far superior to what is being used by Hamas. More importantly, when state actors cease adherence to international norms of war, and openly state that the target is no longer the militants, but the civilian populace, their actions have clearly become war crimes.