LAW, ACRI and Adalah File a Petition to the Supreme Court Against the Israeli Army to Stop the Killing of the Civilian Population in the West Bank
Today, LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), and Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court against the Commander of the Israeli Army in the West Bank, Major General Itzhak Eitan, and Chief of Staff, Shaol Mofaz. The petition demands that the army immediately cease bombing civilian targets in the Jenin refugee camp and asserts that any military action against civilian targets in the West Bank is illegal. Further, the petition demands that the Supreme Court hold an immediate hearing to discuss the substantial dangers currently facing the civilian population of the Jenin refugee camp and the West Bank.
Human Rights Organizations Charge: The Bombing of the Population Amounts to War Crimes
Today, LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), and Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court against the Commander of the Israeli Army in the West Bank, Major General Itzhak Eitan, and Chief of Staff, Shaol Mofaz. The petition demands that the army immediately cease bombing civilian targets in the Jenin refugee camp and asserts that any military action against civilian targets in the West Bank is illegal. Further, the petition demands that the Supreme Court hold an immediate hearing to discuss the substantial dangers currently facing the civilian population of the Jenin refugee camp and the West Bank.
In the petition, Attorney Azmie Odeh from Adalah noted that since the beginning of "Operation Defensive Shield," the army has attacked numerous civilian targets around the West Bank, including houses, schools, roads, hospitals, churches, and mosques, as confirmed by the army itself. Attorney Odeh further mentioned that most news programs have shown numerous pictures of tanks and airplanes firing missiles directly into population centers in the West Bank, particularly in Jenin and Nablus. Based on articles in Ha'aretz on 9 April 2002, there is no doubt that Jenin has become the scene of terrible atrocities and that a massacre has taken place. Even Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has affirmed as much, and interviews with soldiers that appeared in Ha'aretz have also confirmed that a massacre has taken place. In these interviews, the soldiers expressed shock at the manner in which the operation was handled. The interviews quoted one officer as saying, "There is no justification for the damage that we have done, even if we have found and killed several wanted men and destroyed the terrorist infrastructure in the Jenin refugee camp."
Attorney Odeh also noted that since 2 April 2002, the army has shelled tens of houses in the Jenin refugee camp from the air by helicopters and from the land by tank, and the bombing continues at the time of the filing of the petition. The petitioners have received eyewitness testimonies from the refugee camp that confirm that the army bombed houses from the air and the ground without warning. Many residents of the refugee camp were injured and killed during the shelling; others were trapped under the rubble of their homes. Many of those remained trapped under the debris at the time of the filing of the petition. Meanwhile, those who survived the shelling are currently without shelter.
For example, as documented in the petition, H.A., a resident from the Jenin refugee camp contacted Elias Sabbag from ACRI by telephone and reported the following: "Houses in the neighborhood of Abu Zinni beside the Ansar Mosque have been bombed by tanks and helicopters, portions of the houses are burning and 100 people from those houses are running with their children to the center of the Jenin municipality, holding white flags and screaming, 'We are civilians!'" Later on, H.A. and his family left the municipality center and went to another shelter in the A-Razi Hospital in Jenin. At present, they have nowhere else to go. H.A. added that the residents of the refugee camp have not had electricity or water since 3 April 2002. The petitioners also have information that residents of Nablus as well as the refugee camps near Balata, Askar and other areas where there are concentrations of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank face similar conditions.
The petitioners emphasized that the information they have received is horrendous, especially concerning the number of civilians killed and the number of houses destroyed. As the situation continues, these numbers will also continue to rise. In the meantime, none of the letters sent by the petitioners have received a response from either the Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Central District in the Occupied Territories or the Attorney General, at the time of the filing the petition.
In the petition, Attorney Odeh argued that since the military has effective control over the West Bank, they are subject to the rules and principles of customary and international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilians Persons in Time of War (1949). The Geneva Convention (IV) emphasizes the duty of the military to preserve the safety and security of the occupied civilian population under its control. The petitioners contended that the bombardment of civilian targets and the killing of civilians are in gross violation of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention (IV). The petitioners further contended that the Rome Convention defines such acts as war crimes. Attorney Odeh added that once the military knew that many civilians chose not to leave their homes, the assault on civilian targets became direct and intentional.
The petition described the bombardment of the Jenin refugee camp as an act of revenge meant to terrorize the civilian population of the refugee camp as well as the entire West Bank, which is specifically banned by the Geneva Convention (IV). Moreover, the decision to bombard the Jenin refugee camp and other civilian targets around the West Bank amounts to collective punishment against the entire Palestinian population. The military's chosen tactics are unreasonable and disproportionate; the assault on civilian populations, infrastructure and property and against the lives and bodies of civilians was carried out with excessive force. There was no consideration given to alternative measures that would cause less damage. Attorney Odeh emphasized that the Israeli army knew that the bombardment of civilian targets would impose a heavy price on human life amongst the civilian population, yet it did not give any forethought to the gross violation of human rights that would result. The fact that many civilians from the Jenin refugee camp, who had seen the military in action over several days, refused to leave their houses upon the military's request attests to civilian population's distrust of the military's intentions. Many civilians in the Jenin refugee camp have also emphasized that they did not intend to become refugees once again.
