War Crimes

A February 2008 UN report concluded that Palestinian terrorism is the inevitable result of Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid conditions. This is why, as pointed out by professor George Bisharat (New York Times 4/4/09), many countries do not regard violence against foreign military occupation as terrorism and thus consider Hamas a resistance group.

Although Israelis pulled out of Gaza in 2005, Gaza is still de facto occupied since all land, air, and sea access is blocked, and the Israeli military murders Gazans at will ("targeted assassinations.") Furthermore, Israel has perpetuated a starvation blockade rendering Gaza "a big concentration camp," as accurately described by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace. (New York Times 1/9/2008) This amounts to collective punishment, a war crime expressively forbidden by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel's recent mass slaughter of helpless Gaza inmates is another war crime. With 1.5 million people crammed into a tiny area, Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on earth. This makes it easy for Israel to falsely claim that militants "hide" amongst the population. Gaza's high density did not stop the Israeli military from using heavy tank and artillery fire, mortars, rockets, etc., to pulverize heavily populated areas. Civilians were buried alive under rubble as entire neighborhoods were flattened. In addition innocent women and children were shot dead, and ambulances were fired on or forced to turn back as the wounded bled to death. The Israelis left behind their graffiti: "Death to Arabs." (Wall Street Journal 1/28/09). The press was of course denied access so that the Israelis could hide their war crimes.

When the Israelis destroyed a UN compound filled with tons of food and medicine, they said Hamas militants were firing from that compound. Yet the UN officers deny this and state that Israeli liaison offers who had been in constant contact with them had never made such a claim. Indeed, an Israeli army representative privately admitted that the Hamas militants were several hundred yards away from the UN compound. (New York Times 1/16/09). The Israelis also used white phosphorus which is illegal to use in populated areas since it causes horrific deep burns and is very hard to extinguish. Another war crime.

The UN special rapporteur Richard Falk reported that the Israelis killed 1434 Palestinians in Gaza during the recent offensive, of which 960 were civilians and 121 children. (Bisharat, New York Times 4/4/09) On the other hand, the Israeli government stated that during this same period 9 Israeli soldiers were killed, of which four were killed by "friendly" fire from Israeli troops. (The Boston Globe 3/20/09) Now Israel has elected a prime minister who thinks Israel did not kill enough people.