Israeli Army Ordered to Protect Civilians

[maddezmom]

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM - Israel's Supreme Court ruled Sunday the army must uphold international law and make sure civilians have access to medicine, food and water during military operations in Palestinians towns.


But the court did not explicitly accuse the army of violating international law, said Fatmeh El-Ajou, a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, one of the petitioners.


The human rights groups filed the petition during Israel's weeklong incursion into Gaza's Rafah refugee camp in an effort to force the local military commander to protect civilians' basic rights.


Israeli forces entered the camp May 18 after five soldiers were killed when militants attacked their armored vehicle and two more soldiers were killed in sniper attacks. The Israeli raid left 45 Palestinians dead, destroyed dozens of homes and earned Israel harsh international condemnation.
~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20040530/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_court_ruling

[kalian]

1. Hmmm...now this is an interesting development....

I wonder what that bloated PM will do now... :eyes:

[Nlighten1]

2. Will anything change from this announcement?

I seriously doubt it. Israel has ALWAYS known that they needed to do these things. They didn't need anyone to spell it out for them.

[SandyUSA]

3. This ruling is made to be broken

This is ridiculous and meaningless, but it will be believed by some as evidence of Israel's democracy, rule of law, and ultimate goodwill toward the Palestinians.

It is all a show. Years ago I read a book by an Arab Christian who became a Catholic priest. He told about how his people were driven out of their village and were displaced for years. Then they brought a court case that took forever but resulted in a favorable ruling (by Israeli court) that they could return to their village.

So, these happy Christians regathered their families, in some cases the men, women, and children having been separated -- and they walked toward their damaged but still existing village to start their lives over.

Guess what happened next? Israelis soldiers were gathered nearby for this home-coming. They blew up the village right in front of the eyes of these people before they could claim their homes again.

This ruling as that ruling will mean nothing. It is all show.

Christian Voices from the Holy Land
In We Belong to the Land (Harper Collins, 1990), Father Elias Chacour, parish priest of lbillin, Israel, described the destruction in 1953 by the Israeli military of Biram, his family's village in Palestine.

The Biram villagers gathered on a nearby hill, weeping as they watched explosives being put in place around their houses. Then Israeli Air Force planes roared over them and began bombing the village. In horror my family saw the houses explode and the trees catch fire. The screaming villagers ran to the edge of Biram and saw that bulldozers were already working to complete the destruction. Soldiers met the people and said, 'If you want to return now, you can go. The bulldozers will bury you under the rubble of the houses'.

http://www.hcef.org/hcef/index.cfm/ID/129.cfm