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Israeli crimes in international and humanitarian law

August 11, 2014 at 11:00 am

When an Israeli official or journalist gets asked why you’re bombing and killing families in the Gaza Strip, the answer is usually readily available, which is: the main cause for that is the terrorist movement of Hamas which is using civilians as human shields. We have heard this justification numerous times, even during the bombing of UN offices and headquarters, and protected institutions such as hospitals, schools, mosques and churches, and this justification, due to the huge media machine of the Zionist entity, whether written or heard, has become almost a given to many in the West, amid the weak responses to that especially in English.

And so is the case of the bombing of political leaders of the resistance, as Israeli journalists and officials repeat the saying that these are legitimate targets, until this also became a given for a large sector of Arabs and westerners. People are also dazzled by Israel’s warnings sent to families before bombing and destroying their homes, as Israel boasts about it in the investigations it releases after its wars.

Civilians and the rumour of using them as human shields

Customary humanitarian law governs the nature of the armed conflict between Israel and the Palestinian resistance, including the Hamas movement and others, and is considered binding to all parties, and also the rules and Article III of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 regarding occupied land. So if, hypothetically speaking, we assumed the truth of the Israeli narrative regarding Hamas taking shelter among civilians, and using them as human shields, still, this does not relieve Israel from its legal responsibility, and the presence of one person or a number of them does not justify the killing of an entire family, or the targeting of civilians in the area and killing them all. Israel has to prove with evidence the reasons behind its targeting of schools, hospitals and civilian homes.

Yes, international law prohibits the use of civilians as human shields, including taking control of an area and making civilians stay in it (it has never been proven that the Palestinian resistance has used either method). And thus, Israel is responsible for justifying its attacks, and not the opposite. In the case that Israeli allegations prove correct, it has to discriminate in its targeting of civilians versus militants, and then there is being proportionate in its attack, where it is the responsibility of the attacker to cancel out an attack or suspend it in case the civilian damage was more than the importance of the military target.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross: “The bloodshed of civilians must be stopped and civilian targets must be avoided during military operations,” this means military necessity is subject to the provisions of the law relating thereto. If we are following the Israeli logic for the killing and destruction of all targets that are likely to constitute a military threat even though they have not been proven yet, we completely disregard the most prominent principles of international humanitarian law and justify the chaotic killing and destruction operations.

Despite all this, all signs confirm that Israeli forces purposely target civilians, and not randomly as many repeatedly say, which means it is a deliberate and random killing and destruction at the same time. In most attacks in which civilians were killed, so far, there is no tangible evidence of the presence of forces or weapons belonging to the Palestinian resistance in those areas, prior to the attacks or during them. Also, 34 per cent of those killed were women and children (the total number of those killed is approximately 1,850, out of those there are 390 children and 210 women) and out of those injured, 47 per cent are women and children (the total number of wounded are around 10,000, of whom 2,830 are children and 1,940 women). These are statistics by the Palestinian Ministry of Health from July 8 to August 4. Israel may have targeted, through its attacks, locations and weapons for the resistance, which are near residential areas, but these high figures of women and child victims are clear evidence that Israel deliberately targeted civilians.

Israeli crimes of war

Thus, Israeli forces violated the most important standards of the customary humanitarian law, thus committing crimes that mount to war crimes, especially when we know that Israeli weapons can tremendously reduce the possibilities of injuries among civilians, through all the advanced technology it possesses, which is not available for Palestinian resistance weapons, as some of the Israeli missiles are equipped with special cameras that allow those launching them to watch the target and therefore change the weapon’s path in case they find out that there are no military institutions or targets. But, it appears from the number of casualties, that those firing the rockets were certain that they are going to kill civilian men, women and children and let their weapons continue their path and kill them, and we see that Israel, during this war, expanded its killing of civilians, in a systematic manner, and its crimes have mounted to the level of crimes against humanity, and that this is the system and policy of the government.

Targeting political leaders of Palestinian resistance groups, and mobilising public opinion to consider them legitimate targets, does not change facts, and therefore people must work hard to respond to these Israeli allegations in a legal manner where the international humanitarian law is very clear in this regard, where it requires that the political leader to participate in military planning, or to actually participate in the battlefield, to be considered a fighter. Other than that, all these political leaders are civilian targets, and it is prohibited to target them. Israel has to prove with evidence the participation of any political leader it’s killed in the fighting, otherwise, it’s committed a war crime.

Even in the case of targeting military leaders, which the international humanitarian law allows, the attacking party must take into consideration the principle of proportion which we’ve previously mentioned. Will Israel accept for Palestinian resistance groups to bomb the house of an Israeli and kill him and all his family?

Many in the West were dazzled by Israel giving warnings, before it commits its bombing and destruction, and this is also considered part of the Israeli policy of misleading and deceiving onlookers which coincides with a huge systematic media campaign. We, as human rights advocates, see no value for such warnings, as they are not real, and they do not include any actual information on the location or time of the attack. Second, and most importantly, the time frame given after the warning must be enough to evacuate the place.

Most importantly, international humanitarian law is clear and giving warnings, even if effective, does not relieve the attacker from the two principles of discrimination and proportion mentioned before, but rather we clearly accuse Israel of transforming the warnings, which should’ve been a noble weapon, into a weapon of war, that aims at displacing the locals of an entire area, and frightening them.

The Palestinian Authority and the International Criminal Court

Finally, in regards to the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, Israel still controls the Strip’s land, sea and air borders, and it controls electricity, water and communications while the law of occupied land which is mentioned in the Fourth Geneva’s Convention, and which Israel is a party to, applies to the Gaza Strip, despite their forced withdrawal from it. Article 33 stipulates: “No persons may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.” While Article 55 says “the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population.” Article 59 states: “the Occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal.”

In customary humanitarian law, Rule 53 states: “It is prohibited to starve civilians as a method of war,” while Rule 55 states that “parties to the conflict must allow the passage of humanitarian relief items to civilians.”

Everything that’s been mentioned remains ink on paper as long as criminals are not chased in court and brought to justice, or prevented from repeated escape from punishment, which sends all criminals on earth a message that allows them to continue committing their crimes amid Russian and Chinese political protection, in the case of the Syrian regime, and American and European protection in the case of Israel.

The political path must be separated from the legal and humanitarian paths, because family members of the victims have the right to see those who killed and attacked their loved ones, or caused them loss of property or money, see them taken to courts, all without any discrimination based on race or religion. In this regard, we recommend that the Palestinian Authority (PA) signs the statute of the International Criminal Court, and to separate between the path of negotiations and the rights of victims. And the PA must go to court in order to bring justice to tens of thousands of Palestinian families whose members were killed, or whose houses were destroyed, and whose members were displaced or arrested and tortured for tens of years.

Otherwise, Israel will continue committing its crimes, and the United States, along with some European countries will continue to supply it with weapons, even though it continues to use these weapons to commit war crimes, and crimes against humanity, similar to Russia and Iran supplying the Syrian regime with weapons.

The values of human rights and their laws must be applied to all people. People in the Middle East are now convinced that values of justice, democracy and human rights do not apply to them, and that they are merely ink on paper that is used for political necessity, regardless of the essence of humanity, and then they ask you who created radicalism and how can we fight terrorism?!

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, 6 August, 2014

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.