The Harvard-MIT journal International Security, has just published a long article of mine, "Just War Moral Philosophy and the 2008–09 Israeli
Campaign in Gaza," some parts of which have previously appeared on this site.
The hard copy of the journal won't be out for a couple of more weeks, but it can be read now, free, on the journal website: ttp://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/22373/just_war_moral_philosophy_and_the_200809_israeli_campaign_in_gaza.html.
Here is the abstract of the article:
The Israeli attack on Gaza at the end of 2008--"Operation Cast Lead"--is best understood in the context of the overall Israeli "iron wall" strategy that has been at the core of Israeli policies in the Arab-Israeli conflict since the 1930s. The iron wall strategy emphasizes the need for overwhelming military power to break Arab resistance to Zionism and then Israel’s goals and policies; from its outset, the strategy has included attacks on civilians and their crucial infrastructures. Such attacks violate the just war moral principles of discrimination and noncombatant immunity. In addition, Cast Lead violated the just war principles of just cause and last resort: wars must have a just cause and even when it does, must be resorted to only after nonviolent and political alternatives have been tried. Israel did not have a just cause, because its primary purpose was to crush resistance to its continuing de facto occupation and repression of Gaza. Further, Israel refused to explore the genuine possibility that Hamas was amenable to a two-state political settlement. Thus, the iron wall strategy in general and Cast Lead in particular have been political as well as moral failures, failing to serve Israel’s genuine long-term security.