Posted on 07/26/2002 9:49:09 AM PDT by Stultis
ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Without distinction - attacks on civilians by Palestinian armed groups
1. Introduction
These are just six of more than 130 attacks since 29 September 2000 in which civilians were killed by members of Palestinian armed groups and by Palestinian individuals who may not have been acting on behalf of a group. (2) In many attacks, perpetrators deliberately targeted people like five year-old Danielle Shefi and 79 year-old Tuvya Viesner, knowing without any doubt that their victims were not members of the Israeli armed forces. Other perpetrators attacked large groups of people in a busy street, a bus, a café, a hotel or a market, knowing that many if not most of the victims would be civilians.
Amnesty International condemns unreservedly direct attacks on civilians as well as indiscriminate attacks, whatever the cause for which the perpetrators are fighting, whatever justification they give for their actions. The organization has repeatedly condemned attacks on civilians in reports and statements and in meetings and other communications with armed groups that have attacked civilians in Israel and the Occupied Territories and in countries around the world. (3) Targeting civilians and being reckless as to their fate are contrary to fundamental principles of humanity which should apply in all circumstances at all times. These principles are reflected in international treaty law and in customary law. (See section 5)
Historical background
Between the First and Second World Wars, the British authorities ruled Palestine under a League of Nations mandate. On 14 May 1948, the British mandate ended and the State of Israel was proclaimed. A war between Israel and Arab armies followed during which more than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled and became refugees.
Two parts of mandate Palestine remained outside Israel: the Gaza Strip, which came under Egyptian administration and the eastern part adjacent to the Jordan River. The latter was annexed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and became known as the West Bank. Following a war between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, as well as Syria's Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula, which was later returned to Egypt.
East Jerusalem was formally annexed by Israel and is subject to Israeli law and administration. Since 1967, Israel has established numerous colonies - referred to as ''settlements'' - in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in violation of international humanitarian law. There are now more than 300,000 settlers living throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Settlers are subject to Israeli criminal law (Palestinians are subject to Israeli military orders and pre-1967 criminal law), pay Israeli taxes and receive Israeli benefits and services. Settlement security is provided by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and armed settlers. All settlements in Gaza and an increasing number in the West Bank have IDF bases or facilities on them.
The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly called on Israel to withdraw from the territories occupied since 1967 and to dismantle and cease the establishment of settlements in the Occupied Territories. (4)
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are territories subject to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War which applies to situations of occupation. This position is supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and by numerous resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. The Israeli government maintains that it does not regard the Fourth Geneva Convention as legally applying to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, although it has affirmed that Israel would respect in practice its ''humanitarian provisions'', without clearly specifying what provisions it regards as ''humanitarian''. The Fourth Geneva Convention prescribes rules for an occupying power in relation to the inhabitants, who are described as ''protected persons.'' Among other things, the rules prohibit the occupying power from wilfully killing, ill-treating or deporting protected people. It also prohibits it from transferring its own civilian population into the territory.
In 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a Declaration of Principles (the ''Oslo Agreement'') which envisaged a period during which Israel would gradually withdraw its forces and transfer some functions in parts of the West Bank and Gaza to an elected Palestinian self-government authority. Negotiations on a permanent settlement were to be concluded by May 1999.
The Palestinian Authority was established in 1994 and was given certain responsibilities in designated areas of the Occupied Territories. In the West Bank, three zones were defined. In Area A, in which 98 per cent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank lives, the Palestinian Authority was given responsibility for civil affairs and internal security while Israel was responsible for external security. In Area B, the Palestinian Authority was given responsibility for civil affairs while Israel was given overriding responsibility for security. In Area C, Israel was given responsibility for both security control and civil affairs.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been unable to conclude a permanent peace agreement because of disagreements over key issues such as the respective territories of Israel and the proposed state of Palestine; the right to return of Palestinian refugees; the future of Jerusalem; and the future of Israeli settlements within the Occupied Territories. Alongside the collapse of the political process there has been a major increase in the incidence of violence, particularly since the start of the Al-Aqsa intifada (uprising) on 29 September 2000. In the seven years between the Oslo Agreement and the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada, approximately 385 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces and 262 Israelis (both civilians and security forces personnel) were killed by Palestinian armed groups, individuals and security forces. Over 1400 Palestinians and nearly 500 Israelis - including more than 350 civilians - have been killed in less than two years since the Al-Aqsa intifada began.
The first attack by a Palestinian armed group on a civilian target - a commuter bus - - by a perpetrator who exploded a bomb attached to himself was in 1994. By September 2000 there were 14 other attacks by ''suicide bombers'' which caused civilian deaths. Since then, to 21 June 2002, there were 27 lethal suicide bomb attacks on civilians. There were reports of many other occasions when people who set out to kill failed: they wounded or missed their victims; they blew themselves up or were killed or arrested before they could attack.
The current situation
Among Palestinians and supporters of their cause, there is considerable support for armed resistance by Palestinians, aimed at ending the occupation of the territory occupied by Israel in 1967. Commonly, advocates express support for the use of violence by Palestinians against Israel in general terms, drawing no distinction between attacks against military objectives and against civilians. In Palestinian media and in public displays, there has been considerable praise for those who have been killed in the course of attacking Israelis even if the attacks were targeted against civilians. ''Suicide bombers'' are commonly referred to as ''martyrs'' and their actions as ''martyrdom operations''. Armed groups appear to find it relatively easy to recruit people prepared to kill themselves while committing attacks.
Palestinian armed groups and their supporters offer a variety of reasons for targeting Israeli civilians - that they are engaged in a war against an occupying power and that religion and international law permit the use of any means in resistance to occupation; that they are retaliating against Israel killing members of armed groups and Palestinians generally; that striking at civilians is the only way they can make an impact upon a powerful adversary; that Israelis generally or settlers in particular are not civilians.
The United Nations General Assembly has recognized the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples against colonial and alien domination or foreign occupation in the exercise of their right to self-determination and independence. (5) However, as detailed in section 5, international law requires the use of force to be in accordance with certain basic principles that apply in all situations. In particular, the parties involved in a conflict must always distinguish between civilians and people actively taking part in the hostilities and must make every effort to protect civilians from harm.
Amnesty International has for many years documented and condemned violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Israel directed against the Palestinian population of the Occupied Territories. (6) They include unlawful killings; torture and ill-treatment; arbitrary detention; unfair trials; collective punishments such as punitive closures of areas and destruction of homes; extensive and wanton destruction of property; deportations; and discriminatory treatment as compared to Israeli settlers. Most of these violations are grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are therefore war crimes. Many have also been committed in a widespread and systematic manner, and in pursuit of government policy; such violations meet the definition of crimes against humanity under international law.
However, no violations by the Israeli government, no matter their scale or gravity, justify the killing of Sinai Keinan, Danielle Shefi, Chanah Rogan or any other civilians. The obligation to protect civilians is absolute and cannot be set aside because Israel has failed to respect its obligations. The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians. They therefore constitute crimes against humanity under international law. They may also constitute war crimes, depending on the legal characterisation of the hostilities and interpretation of the status of Palestinian armed groups and fighters under international humanitarian law. (see section 5)
goodieD said:
Okay..this must be one of the signs of the apocalypse!
The most horrible aspect of these murders is that any Israeli civilian victim over the age of 70 is probably a Holocaust survivor. Shame on the world for allowing these people to be subject to yet another genocidal attempt to wipe out the Jews.
Eagerly awaiting the trial of Yasser Arafat and Hanan Ashrawi for crimes against humanity!!!!!
This is the first time I've heard of this far left outfit condemning any non-western faction. Maybe they do have a few honest folks over there after all!
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