Region | Palestinian Territories
Pressure mounts for probe into Israeli war crimes
The United Nations and human rights groups call for alleged Israeli war crimes to be investigated and those responsible to be brought to justice.
- Financial Times
- Published: 00:00 January 17, 2009
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Mourners carry the body of Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyyam during his funeral in Gaza City yesterday.
Gaza City: As Israel's military assault on Gaza nears the end of its third week, pressure is mounting from governments, the United Nations and human rights groups for alleged Israeli war crimes to be investigated and those responsible to be brought to justice.
Since the end of December, almost 1,100 Palestinians have died and more than 5,000 have been injured, most of them civilians, including women and children.
One-sided war
"The one-sidedness of casualty figures is one measure of disproportion," says Richard Falk, UN human rights envoy for the occupied Palestinian territories. Four Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets since the offensive began, with another nine Israeli soldiers also killed - four in a "friendly fire" incident.
Several specific incidents have also prompted calls for an independent war crimes investigation, including an attack last week on a UN-run school being used as a civilian shelter that killed more than 40 people.
In another incident described as "shocking" by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Israeli forces barred rescue workers for four days from evacuating wounded civilians.
Human rights groups also point to attacks on ambulances and rescue vehicles, and the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons that make civilian casualties inevitable. Amnesty International says Israeli soldiers, as well as Hamas, are also using Palestinians as a human shield.
Definition of legitimacy
Moreover, Israel's definition of a legitimate military target appears to go way beyond what is permissible in international law to encompass anyone and anything suspected of supporting Hamas's military or political apparatus.
"Military objectives" have included police stations, government buildings, mosques, the Islamic University and a money-changing office.
Prosecuting war crimes cases is problematic and past experience is not encouraging. Despite evidence presented by the UN and others, no Israeli citizen has ever been prosecuted for war crimes. But some human rights experts believe public outrage could open the way for the trial abroad of suspected Israeli war criminals.
"We're in the early stages of a seismic shift in international law," says Christopher Hall, senior legal adviser at Amnesty International in London.
He notes that lawyers attached to Israel's foreign ministry are already analysing the risk of travel abroad for Israelis who could be targets for arrest once they lose their diplomatic immunity.
"It's like walking across the street against a red light," says Hall. "The risk may be low but you're going to think twice before committing a crime or travelling if you have committed one."
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