Adalah to AG: Open a Criminal Investigation into Israeli Soldiers' Use of Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields during the Recent Military Offensive on Gaza
On 8 April 2009, Adalah in cooperation with Al-Mezan in Gaza, sent a letter to the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak and the Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, demanding that the AG immediately open a criminal investigation followed by a prompt prosecution of military leaders who authorized soldiers to use Palestinian civilians as human shields during the recent offensive on Gaza, which took place from 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009.
In her letter, Adalah Attorney Rana Asali argued that these acts contradict the Israeli Supreme Court's decision delivered in 2005 which prohibits the military's use of civilians to assist the army in military activities. (See HCJ 3799/02, Adalah et al v Yitzhak Eitan, et al., decision delivered 6 October 2005). Adalah together with six other Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations brought that petition before the court.
Attorney Asali brought five cases to the attention of the Defense Minister in her letter chosen from among tens of testimonies obtained from individuals in Gaza. These civilians were selected and then forced to walk in front of the soldiers to protect them and perform other deeds that endangered them and put their lives at risk. The soldiers forced these individuals to enter homes before they did, fearing booby traps or the existence of combatants inside. They also compelled them to take pictures of the homes' interiors. After the civilians performed these tasks and informed the soldiers that the homes were free of any combatants, the soldiers led them into the homes again and forced them to break walls and enter neighbors' homes in this manner.
According to the testimony given by Majdi El Abed Ahmed Abed Rabbo: "... and there, the soldier himself told me; we killed them, now empty their pockets. I refused and I told them that the fighters told me that if I returned, they would kill me. The soldier said to me: 'we killed them' ... I started going down the stairs, calling out before I entered the apartment, but no one answered as they had done previously. So I went to the apartment door and saw that the place had been completely destroyed, and then I saw fire burning the kitchen cabinets. I also saw the same three young men, one of them was badly injured and was bleeding, and the other two were fine. I tried to help the wounded and wrap his wounds ... I told them that I was in a difficult situation, that the army was everywhere, and I would not be able to help them. One of them told me to tell the officer that if he was a man and a true soldier, he would come to him there and not send me again. I was in the apartment for about ten minutes, and then I left and proceeded to the place where the officer and soldiers were. Before I arrived, they made me take off all my clothes again, just like they had done previously. After I dressed, I told them what I had seen and passed on what I had been told. I was surprised by them attacking me, beating me with their fists and kicking me with their feet and rifle butts. Then the officer himself came forward and began to beat me and kick me with them as the message from the resistance had provoked him ...".
Adalah also argued in the letter that using civilians as human shields is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention and is considered a war crime under international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) regards grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention as war crimes. Furthermore, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the UN to prosecute the war crimes that took place in the Republics of the former Yugoslavia, regards the use of civilians as hostages or during military operations as war crimes.
