Amnesty International: Israel / Lebanon: End immediately attacks against civilians
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
AI Index: MDE 15/064/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 182
13 July 2006
Israel / Lebanon: End immediately attacks against civilians
The Israeli and Lebanese governments, and Hizbullah, must take immediate steps to end the ongoing attacks against civilians and civilian objects. Such attacks are a blatant breach of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes.
It is vital at this time of rapidly rising tension that all parties observe the requirements of international humanitarian law, and that other governments take all appropriate steps to insist that they do so.
“Israel must put an immediate end to attacks against civilians and against civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, which constitute collective punishment. Israel must also respect the principle of proportionality when targeting any military objectives or civilian objectives that may be used for military purposes,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East Programme.
“Hizbullah must stop launching attacks against Israeli civilians and it must treat humanely the two Israeli soldiers it captured on 12 July and grant them immediate access to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” said Malcolm Smart.
The organization also called on the Lebanese government to take concrete measures to ensure that Hizbullah complies with these obligations under international law.
Background
Some 40 Lebanese civilians have reportedly been killed in Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling against villages in South Lebanon since yesterday’s cross-border attack by Hizbullah’s armed wing, in which two Israeli soldiers were captured and eight others killed.
Among the Lebanese victims were a family of ten, including eight children, who were killed in Dweir village, near Nabatiyeh, and a family of seven, including a seven-month-old baby, who were killed in Baflay village near Tyre. More than 60 other civilians were injured in these or other attacks.
Israeli forces have also launched deliberate attacks against civilian objects throughout Lebanon, including Beirut international airport, 10 bridges and an electricity power station, as well as against Hizbullah targets, notably the offices of its al-Manar television station in Beirut and its relay station in Baalbek.
At the same time, Hizbullah has been launching Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel. An Israeli woman was killed and dozens of other civilians were injured when a Katyusha rocket hit a house in the town of Nahariya earlier today.
The Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism …" (Article 33). According to Article 147 of the Convention, "extensive destruction ... not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly," hostage-taking and "torture or inhuman treatment" are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and constitute war crimes. All state parties to the Convention are required to search for and ensure the prosecution of perpetrators of grave breaches of the said Convention.
Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions codifies the principle of distinction, a customary rule of international humanitarian law: "In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operation only against military objectives." (Article 48). International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits attacks against civilians and civilian objects. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) includes as war crimes: “Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities”, and “Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects" (Article 8 2 (b) (i) and (ii)).
PRESS RELEASE
AI Index: MDE 15/064/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 182
13 July 2006
Israel / Lebanon: End immediately attacks against civilians
The Israeli and Lebanese governments, and Hizbullah, must take immediate steps to end the ongoing attacks against civilians and civilian objects. Such attacks are a blatant breach of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes.
It is vital at this time of rapidly rising tension that all parties observe the requirements of international humanitarian law, and that other governments take all appropriate steps to insist that they do so.
“Israel must put an immediate end to attacks against civilians and against civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, which constitute collective punishment. Israel must also respect the principle of proportionality when targeting any military objectives or civilian objectives that may be used for military purposes,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East Programme.
“Hizbullah must stop launching attacks against Israeli civilians and it must treat humanely the two Israeli soldiers it captured on 12 July and grant them immediate access to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” said Malcolm Smart.
The organization also called on the Lebanese government to take concrete measures to ensure that Hizbullah complies with these obligations under international law.
Background
Some 40 Lebanese civilians have reportedly been killed in Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling against villages in South Lebanon since yesterday’s cross-border attack by Hizbullah’s armed wing, in which two Israeli soldiers were captured and eight others killed.
Among the Lebanese victims were a family of ten, including eight children, who were killed in Dweir village, near Nabatiyeh, and a family of seven, including a seven-month-old baby, who were killed in Baflay village near Tyre. More than 60 other civilians were injured in these or other attacks.
Israeli forces have also launched deliberate attacks against civilian objects throughout Lebanon, including Beirut international airport, 10 bridges and an electricity power station, as well as against Hizbullah targets, notably the offices of its al-Manar television station in Beirut and its relay station in Baalbek.
At the same time, Hizbullah has been launching Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel. An Israeli woman was killed and dozens of other civilians were injured when a Katyusha rocket hit a house in the town of Nahariya earlier today.
The Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism …" (Article 33). According to Article 147 of the Convention, "extensive destruction ... not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly," hostage-taking and "torture or inhuman treatment" are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and constitute war crimes. All state parties to the Convention are required to search for and ensure the prosecution of perpetrators of grave breaches of the said Convention.
Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions codifies the principle of distinction, a customary rule of international humanitarian law: "In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operation only against military objectives." (Article 48). International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits attacks against civilians and civilian objects. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) includes as war crimes: “Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities”, and “Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects" (Article 8 2 (b) (i) and (ii)).
www.amnesty.org
www.amnesty.org.uk
www.amnesty.org.uk
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Comments
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
You hit the nail on the head there d2d...couldn't have said it any better....and you would think we live in a civilized age....
Well, I think they know that Israel isn't going to release the arab prisoners. So to be fair they'd have to ask that too.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Tit for tat, whatever. People are going to have to acknowledge, at some point, that prisoner release is going to be an important part of ending this current flare-up. By remaining silent on the matter, Amnesty International just looks biased. I mean, even more than usual.
Are you serious?! The whole fucking thing (killing civilians is wrong, terrorism is bad, Red Cross, yadda yadda) is dead obvious! You're cool with this whole write-up as something that needed to be said, but then you balk at one small omission as legit for being too obvious? Geez Louise!
Well you do realize that the soldiers were captured to free arab prisoners, don't you?
You do realize that the Isreali counterattack on Lebanon is intended to free these soldiers, don't you?
My point is, where does it stop?
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/aboutai-statute-eng
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/aboutai-udhr-eng
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
But my point was, why are they OK reiterating some pieces but not others? Is this a case of selective reiteration? It seems like a glaring omission to me. If they are going to release specific pronouncements like this, they open themselves up to the scrutiny of picky bastards like me.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Hmmm ... Possibly.
I do stand by my point, though. I think it would have been helpful to include.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Low, you bastard ... LOW!
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
I agree. It's sickening.
Well the title of the release is:
End immediately attacks against civilians
The civilian focus and immediacy of the statement may preclude a more complicated POW (noncivilian) release scenerio. They certainly address the soldiers and kidnappers though, even calling on the US (among others) to track and try them for war crimes:
Hi reborn, nice to see you!
Well... do you think that is a good reason to bomb a sovereign nation and its civilian population? (Or better.... there could ever be any good reason to bomb a sovereign nation???) ....I think the scary fact here is exactly that we have got to a point that we can justify war and state aggression, and that is sign of collective madness to me, by these times... Moreover, Israel is a state, a sovereign nation, and as such it is subject to the Geneva Convention. Hezbollah represent the lebanon state only partly, they are not a regular army, so you cannot treat them as they are. They are an islamic militant group, not exactly a regular army. It would be important that Amnesty or anyone else in the civil society demand the hezbollah to stop the violence and free the soldiers, but I think it would be a priority that the international community condemns and stops Israel, defined as a sovereign state and a democratic nation, for its continuous military aggression against civilians, its continuous violation of the international laws and the UN resolutions. We have to stop to see this behaviour by the Israeli government as something "justifiable" as self-defence, simply because they are a nation with a regular army of a democratic state who is constantly committing crimes against civilians, crimes that would not be allowed, and are not, if committed by any other nation in the world ('cept for the US, of course). Thanks God. (yeah, imagine what the world would be if any nation in the world would be allowed to do the same....) So, the point "where does it stop" to me gets to the only possible answer that it only can stop when the civilized world starts to deserve such name, and starts to respect the international laws and the civil cohabitation... and to do so to me it also means that the international community has to gain means, power and political strategy to assure such respect of the international laws. In few words, to become a civilized world, the international community should start to give up the priority of national interests and the economical interests tied to the diplomatic relationships, and make the values of peace and human rights as the inalienable priority. This, to me, would be the only way to stop and prevent all these massacres.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/wp-content/israeli_girls_gifts_02.jpg
http://sabbah.biz/mt/wp-content/israeli_girl_gift_01.jpg
http://image4.bubbleshare.com/media/00/14/b3/6b/564449af4cff30a70f3c9a74d1021ada/580x435/aa-
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
-Oscar Wilde
those links aren't working, but here's another link to the same pics of israeli children grinning while they write messages on bombs...also note how well fed these children look compared to the, what were the stats, 3/4 of palestinian children who live w/ mild-severe malnutrition?? how sick can you be to teach a child to hate like this? and yes, that goes for both sides, but have pics of children gleefuly writing messages on weapons that will kill other kids is disgusting!
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7760/1663/320/more%20girls%20signing%20bombs.2.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7760/1663/320/israeli%20girls%20indoctrinated%201.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7760/1663/320/israeli%20girls%20indoctrinated%202.jpg
i hope they signed it 'w/ love'
http://image4.bubbleshare.com/media/00/14/b3/6b/564449af4cff30a70f3c9a74d1021ada/580x435/aa-98_580x435.jpg
which also ties into this disgusting display of how it's not just groups like hezbollah warping children's minds but Israel as well
http://www.captiveminds.org/misc/letter.htm
"DEAR SOLDIER, PLEASE KILL A LOT OF ARABS"
Source: Yedioth Ahronoth, May 7, 2002
Israeli reservists serving in the Tulkarm area during Operation Defensive Shield were stunned when they opened gifts sent by school children from central Israel. Many of the students wrote them letters in which they encouraged them to disregard the rules and regulations and to kill as many Arabs as possible. Dozens of the letters were sent, mostly from children in the 7th through 10th grades who attend national religious schools.
One reservist said he was eager to open the letter, but he was stunned when he started to read it. "I pray for you that you return home safely, and kill at least ten for me," wrote the pupil. "Screw the rules and spray them. By the way-a good Arab is a dead Arab." Other letters were even more heated. "Let the Palestinians, may God blacken their name, burn in Hell. Punch holes in them with your M-16 and bomb them," wrote one of the teens. Another wrote, "I have a special request for you-kill as many Arabs as you can." In another letter, a pupil wished the soldier success in his mission and added, "Say, isn't it fun to shoot an Arab? Here's a slogan: a good Arab is a dead Arab. A top notch Arab is a buried Arab."
Most of the letters contained similar statements. Some of the teenagers, who are supposed to be drafted in another two years, said they regretted not being able to take part in the "action" now. The reservist who opened the first letter mentioned above gathered all the letters and sent them to the Jewish Action Center. "I read the letters and couldn't believe my eyes," he said. "We keep talking about the hateful incitement of the Palestinian educational system towards Israel, and suddenly it happens here with us, beneath everyone's nose. This issue simply frightens me and has to set off alarms in our educational system."
The director of the public department at the Jewish Action Center sent a letter to the Education Minister demanding she investigate the situation and curb "trends towards radicalization." The ministry said it will investigate.
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
Yep, on par with those infamous photos of what Palestinian kids play with ...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277022,00.html
Look at that picture - the terrorist holding a soldier's body parts and displaying them for those kids. That is absolutely horrific, but at least he's not using the kids as a human shield (yet).
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
sorry, but i don't think an ADULT holding a SHOE is the same as a CHILD signing a BOMB adn writing letters to soldiers telling them to kill as many arabs as they can
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way