International law is not a suicide pact

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It is easy to feel sorry for the Palestinians in Gaza. Televised and print images of their apparently unrelieved misery suggest Israeli cruelty in the creation of shortages and in the use of armed force. Exactly the opposite is true. The moment that flagrantly illegal Hamas rocket attacks upon Israeli noncombatants cease, no harms of any kind will be imposed by Israel.

Hamas commits other egregious violations of international law. It is always a codified war crime to use civilians as "human shields." This cowardly act even has a precise legal name - "perfidy." By persistently placing their most impoverished women and children in harm's way - especially in those areas from which they launch terrorist rockets into Israel - Palestinian terrorist leaders deliberately create Palestinian casualties.

There is more here than meets the eye. Several Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, are forging conceptual and tactical bonds with al-Qaeda. These criminal organizations are now actively planning for mega-terror operations against Israel. If they cannot be stopped, such attacks would involve (at a minimum) chemical and/or biological weapons of mass destruction. Over time, especially if Iran should begin to transfer portions of its growing inventory of nuclear materials to selected terror groups, Israel could also face Palestinian-directed nuclear terrorism.

What government could be expected to sit back passively and render its population vulnerable to instantaneous mass-slaughter? Would we, in the United States, sit quietly by as rockets rained down upon American cities from terrorist sanctuaries somewhere on our southern borders? Would we allow such carnage to continue with impunity? Can capitulation and surrender ever be the proper or excusable reaction of a sovereign state sworn to protect its populations? For as long as political philosophers have written about the essential obligations of sovereignty, no state responsibility has been as important as the fundamental assurance of protection.

ALTHOUGH NOT widely recognized, Israel has always been willing to keep its counter terrorism operations in Gaza consistent with the settled standards of humanitarian international law. Palestinian violence, on the other hand, still remains in violation of all civilized rules of engagement. And all this after Israel very painfully "disengaged" from Gaza on the US-backed promise that the Palestinians - finally - would put an end to their relentless barrage of terror. Significantly, this barrage also remains strategically senseless, as it does absolutely nothing to advance any vital Palestinian interests.

International law is not a suicide pact. Rather, it offers an authoritative body of rules and procedures that permits states to express their inherent right of self-defense. When terrorist organizations celebrate the explosive "martyrdom" of Palestinian children, and when Palestinian leaders unashamedly seek religious redemption through the mass-murder of Jewish children, the terrorists have no legal right to demand sanctuary. Anywhere.

Under international law terrorists are always hostes humani generis, "Common enemies of humankind." Even according to the most ancient sources of international law, such murderers must be severely punished wherever they are found. For their arrest and prosecution, jurisdiction is "universal." Palestinian terrorism, even during its present "slow" period (when contending Hamas and Fatah factions are too busy attacking each other), is far worse than most people ever imagine. Using bombs filled with nails, razor blades and screws dipped in rat poison; the killers maim and burn Israeli civilians with abundant cheers from their neighbors and with warmest blessings from local clergy. As for those "commanders" who actually direct and control the suicide-bombers, they typically cower for protection in assorted hiding places. At times they issue loud calls for their wives, mothers and daughters to stand between themselves and the Israelis.

This is the documented "heroism" of Palestinian terrorism. What is unknown to most observers is that carefully trained IDF counter-terrorism units operate in exactly the opposite fashion. These Israeli soldiers always identify and target only the terrorist leaders. Always they seek to minimize collateral harms. There are times, of course, when such harms simply can't be avoided. Even the IDF, which follows its code of "Purity of Arms" far more stringently than any other nation's army, including our own, cannot undo the deliberate barbarism of Palestinian perfidy.

Deception can be legally acceptable in armed conflict, but The Hague Regulations forbid placement of military assets or personnel in heavily populated civilian areas. Further prohibition of perfidy is found at Protocol I of 1977 additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It is widely recognized that these rules are also binding on the basis of customary international law. Perfidy represents an especially serious violation of the Law of War, one identified as a "grave breach" at Article 147 of Geneva Convention IV. The critical legal effect of perfidy committed by Palestinian terrorist leaders is to immunize Israel from any responsibility for inadvertent counterterrorist harms done to Arab civilians. Even if Hamas and Fatah and Islamic Jihad and their several sister terror groups did not deliberately engage in perfidy, any Palestinian-created link between civilians and terrorist activities would always give Israel full legal justification for defensive military action.

International law is not a suicide pact. All combatants, including Palestinian terrorists, are bound by the Law of War of international law. This requirement is found at Article 3, common to the four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and at the two protocols to these Conventions. Protocol I applies humanitarian international law to all conflicts fought for "self-determination," the stated objective of all Palestinian fighters. A product of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts (1977), this Protocol brings all irregular forces within the full scope of international law. In this connection, the terms "fighter" and "irregular" are charitable in describing Palestinian terrorists. These fanatics are plainly criminals who intentionally target civilians, and whose characteristic mode of "battle" is not purposeful military engagement, but primal religious sacrifice.

In the final analysis, Israel faces a Palestinian terrorist enemy who embraces violence not for land, and not for national self-determination, but for God. For this determined Jihadist enemy, terrorism is now a plainly sacred expression of worship. Israel, like every other state, has the indisputable right and obligation under international law to protect its citizens from such an enemy.

The writer, a professor of political science at Purdue University, is the author of many books dealing with terrorism and international law.

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Original piece is http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733173520&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

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The Western world views the Geneva Conventions as the basis for Rules of Engagement (ROE).Most of the Western Media rightly subscribes to these commonly held human principles, being part of what we believe forms the basis of our Judeo Christian culture. Israe,l in a war for survival, is engaged with an enemy who does not recognize these ROEs. This same enemy demands that Israel adhere to these ROE"s, whilst they dont. And the Western Media supports them. Consider a game of football where the Israeli goalee is shot dead. In order not to be seen as barbaric through immediate reprisal, the game goes on. The next victim is the full forward. Still the world thinks this is not so bad since the Israeli team is a much stronger team. They continue playing. The next victim is the mother of the midfielder, and his young daughter out shopping for new school dress. So the midfielder shouts at the referee (UN?Security Council?) "this is not fair", and the referee is cut down by a Qassam rocket. What will the sports commentators write? What will the sports federation do? What will the spectators do? Crazy analogy? Israel is a signatory and a firm supporter of the Geneva Convention, and various other organisations and pacts supporting the sanctity of human life. How does a conventional Israeli army respond to: *Booby trapped body lying across a road? *A woman(?) dressed in a hijab running towards them yelling help! help! is she a suicide bomber? Is he/she a gun bearing terorrist? *How do you enter a home from which rockets have been fired and which is fully occupied by a family with 10 children *How do you confront a donated ambulance from Turkey which was just delivered by the Israelis to assist innocent civilians, after it has been hijacked by Hamas to transport missiles and terrorist personel to a battle. *How do you transport medical aid and food to suffering civilians, under fire from Hamas *Why do you provide water electricity gas and petrol to an army hell bent on destroying you. *What do you do when a tractor is driven through a battle field? (remember the tractor killing of innocents in Jerusalem) *How does an army get at terrorist leaders making their escape under an old womans hijab? *How do you blow up an arms cache under a school full of children with a big UN sign on its roof * What is to be done with a mosque where rockets are stored, and being used as a rocket launching site? Worse still, how is it possible that the Western Media, fails to acknowledge all of this, insisting still that Israel is the guilty party .

Posted by Danny on 2009-01-31 23:57:20 GMT

Beres" article is a comprehensive rehash of facts already known by anyone taking an interest in the assault on Israel and on Jews. It would be more important to comment on (1) the antisemitism at the base of Mohammedan rejection of Israel (2) the anti-West (hence anti-Israel) and anti-white racism of the majority of the UN (3) the dhimmi status civilised nations have adopted in accepting culpability for any Mohammedan accusation while ignoring the tendency of such societies to invert facts and intentions and (4) the barbarity of Mohammedan societies which culturally sensitive Westerners which dare not criticise those but which not only accept criticism in return, but accept the Mohammedan interpretation of how the West is failing its own standards which, to the West, these same people claim as their own. We must speak clearly, plainly and forcefully in telling Islamofascists how horrible they are and we must stand up for our own civilisation.

Posted by paul2 on 2009-01-30 11:59:32 GMT

In follow up to the very relevant comments by Mr. Beres, according to the law professor and former Canadian Minister Of Justice, there is "almost no comparable example" anywhere of a group that so systematically violates international law as Hamas. These serious violations include the laws of armed conflict, international humanitarian laws covered under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and decisions by the International Court of Justice and various tribunals used for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. These violations include: 1) The war crime of random targeting of civilian populations, i.e. bombing southern Israel for circa 8 years without thousands of "unguided" missles. 2) Attacks from within civilian populations, i.e. rocket attacks from residential streets, rooftops, mosques, schools, hospitals, etc. 3) Using ambulances, carrying UN flags or dressing as a doctor, etc. 4) Incitement to genocide as the Constitution of Hamas proclaims, with references to the random and systematic killing of all Jews. 5) Moving from random to systematic attacks on civilian populations, whereby violations are categorized as "crimes against humanity." 6) The use of children in the preparation, execution and defense in acts of warfare, i.e. training children for warfare, and their use as "human shields." The fact that this is ignored, while any and every conceivable action of Israel being criticised and combed for its possible violation of law, in defense of open and flagrants attacks on its non-combattant population truly lacks seriousness in the face of the above, and at a point, one can certainly understand why Israeli"s basically shrug their shoulders at world opinion.

Posted by Brian on 2009-01-30 09:40:35 GMT

Ronit, Louis Rene Beres & irwin Cotler are great authorities on international law & their articles are always worthy of reading. Whilst I personally have a lot of time for John Searle, I believe he was being politically polite/correct in in his somewhat measured response to AIS. I generally agree with the content of your response & it would have added greater firmness to John"s reply. However returning to this disproportionality issue, what I find really fantastic examples of disproportionality are: 1)how is it that the Palestinians have hookwinked the world & the UN in particular & they are the only refugee group (in the history of refugees)to have their very own, decades old, exclusive UN agency (UNWRA), yet all the other more recent refugees barely rate a mention at the UN (& its various fora) or any other fora, else where in the world; 2)how much funding has been provided to this somewhat elitist refugee group including thru" the UN & all the other "collection tins" that have been put up by the EU, the so-called Quartet (EU, US, Russia & UN) and thru" the auspicies of their own brethren, especially the plethora of the oil rich feifdoms - sure the monies have been put into infrastructure, but a few corrupt & greedy clans are raking some of those donations off, as contraband (weapons, munitions, tobacco, prostitutes & other forms of slavery & the like), is smuggled thru" that infrastructure (the hundreds of unseen tunnels); 3) the amount of news print paper & ink) & media coverage (in its various forms) devoted to this tiny nation state beleagured by an implacable, yet gutless & cowardly enemy, who in turn are egged on by their Arab brethren (the 22 Arab countries that comprise the Arab League - let"s leave the rest of the Muslim world to one side for this exercise) who jointly have a land mass just a little smaller than the Australian continent!), yet these brethren treat their Palestinian brothers & sisters as pariahs, deny them citizenship & treat them as pawns against Israel & the Jewish people; 4) the number of anti-Israel UN resolutions, mainly in the newly infamous UNHRCouncil, that rather hastily replaced it predecessor organ UNHRCommission (or is that the other way around?)- so much for turning a new leaf! Now that"s what I call disproportionate, just for starters! (There"s more, but I guess you have limits in place to contain submissions).

Posted by Avi P. on 2009-01-30 07:54:32 GMT

There is this scenario: Hamas is fighting a war on 2 fronts. Front 1 is the military - they say - "we will make Gaza a graveyard for them (IDF)" The other front is the one in case the first fails. This is to get world opinion and Muslim opinion to regard Israelis and in reality all Jews as nazis. By martyrdom and staging Palestinian deaths more or less planned, they get this sympathy. But it is planned. So the many casualties play in to their hands in this regard and fosters this plane no 2. This last scenario is very vicious and prepares the way for atrocities that may be committed by them (Hamas e.t.c.) in the future. Who wold care if tragedy befalls Israeli citizens after the way they have been portrait to behave. Many they hope would feel justified in an future "holocaust upon Jews. There is a parallel concerted effort to convey that Jews are European "pretenders" and have no attachment to the land which is only "their" land. For instance any archeological finding by Palestinian authority excavators which has a Jewish historical connection is destroyed. Then also, for the sake of mainly their Muslim audenice they villify Jews as not human but pigs and sons of pigs and the find referances in the q"ran to justify this. Thus they feel and actually say they are winning the war. obviously it is not the military war they are winning but the hate propaganda one that they hope they will win and the ignorant and perhaps Jew hating international media is helping them alng this way by not recognizing this scenario. yet this same international media is telling us of the hat occurring in European countries with a Muslim minority of anything above 2%. Doctored photos in past issues of the media are not being reviewed and any new doctored photos from the war zone would not be evident as yet. So they hate producers are supported in this way by a careless international media. Careless if not outright anti Jewish from some suppressed psychological reasons. Since wneh does the world accept human profiling as "pigs" and protesters that hold banners to "kill"? The answer seems to be - when it is directed at Jews. In summary, and as a very recent example and event, Hamas allows and by their actions encourages the killing of their people for a cause where the spilling of their own people"s blood serves that cause and where the cause itself (to get rid of Jews from the middle East and if possible from the world) is more important than their people"s lives. They actually say so - fight to their last drop of blood to resist what they call "the occupation". This occupation has never been defined. is it a few square miles of land or is it every piece of land on which a Jew stands. The religion issue is more important than the human being, and there can be no eventual settlement between 2 peoples side by side if one side is vilified and de-humanised. In the same manner, the head of a recognised country (Iran) has been quoted to have said that the whole palestinian people would be worth sacrifising with a nuclear bomb that would whipe out the israeli state if dropeed in tht region. Finely i see very little effort of the world community to fight this war of hate. Notice that i am not hating myself apart from the haters. Generally very few if any Jews have been shown to be involved in this sort of hate and de-humanisation and blood lust as has come from the Middle Eats and recently caught on in Europe in countries with a substantial Muslim minority.

Posted by Maimon from Oz on 2009-01-30 07:28:44 GMT

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