Israel
One ton bomb to assassinate terrorist?
Feldman and Sfarad [in their 50-page report to the clerk of the Israeli Supreme Court] describe the killing of Hamas activist Salah Shehada, who was assassinated last July with a one-ton aerial bomb that killed another 14 people, injured 150 people and destroyed numerous homes in the vicinity of Shehada's home: "It greatly pains us to say the following, but we do not have any choice, because the legal and moral truth obligates us to present these facts, in their full severity, before the honorable court: liquidation is a war crime, the consistent, widespread policy of targeted liquidations bounds on a crime against humanity and the State of Israel has turned its pilots into war criminals that hunt wanted men as if they were on a duck hunt (and duck hunting is also against the law)."
- Aryeh Dayan, Haaretz, May 21, 2003
We are killing civilians in the streets of Gaza and Ramallah, in the alleys of Jenin and Hebron, we are chasing cars with helicopters and blowing them up with missiles intended for use against tanks on the battlefield, we are sniping at civilians walking out of the front door of their home, we are booby-trapping phone booths and planting bombs, we are sowing destruction and ruin in numerous families, and all this without any legal procedure, without any evidentiary infrastructure of anything being presented to anyone. This is the biggest victory of all of the architects of death in the cafes and shopping centers.
- Attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfarad in their report to the Israeli Supreme Court
Between the first and last chapters, the document [by attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfarad presented to the Israeli Supreme Court] presents a detailed list of all of the liquidations and all of the attempted assassinations that Israel's security forces carried out between November 9, 2000, the day that a helicopter fired a missile in Beit Sahour that assassinated Fatah activist Hussein Salim Abiyat and the two women driving with him in his car, and April 29, 2003, the day that a missile fired from a helicopter liquidated Popular Front activist Nidal Salameh in Khan Yunis, along with the man driving with him in his car.
In the 29 months that have passed between these two killings, Israel carried out no less than 175 liquidation attempts. In other words, the document says, one attempt every five days.
...[T]he 175 events did result in the death or injury of hundreds of bystanders that had nothing to do with anyone who Israel wished to assassinate.
In these 175 cases, says the authors, 235 people were killed and 310 injured. Only 156 of the dead were described as targets. The other 79 were their relatives, neighbors or just bystanders. The age of 31 of the incidental dead varied from two months (the baby Dunia Matar, a neighbor of Shehada's in Gaza) and 18 years; 11 of these victims were women. The statistics of the injured is even more problematic: five of the wounded were people whom Israel intended to liquidate but failed in the mission; the remaining 305 wounded were relatives, neighbors or bystanders.
... [T]hey cite... the "mistaken liquidation of the two Israeli security guards near the settlement Pnei Hever," which took place on March 13, 2003. Feldman and Sfarad allege that the latter incident would not have happened if not for the liquidation policy pursued by the army and political echelons. "The army's investigation of the incident proves that the victims of the liquidation were given no opportunity to surrender or to lay down their weapons," they write.
- Aryeh Dayan, Haaretz, May 21, 2003
The high number of bystanders harmed by the liquidation policy, the immense number of wounded, the number of destroyed families, the innocent citizens who were killed, the children that we have handicapped for life, all of these victims of the Israeli assassination policy stand at the gates of the honorable court in a long line, and prove more than any cold legal argument that the means chosen by the IDF to realize the policy of liquidations is blatantly unlawful and immoral.
- Attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfarad in their report to the Israeli Supreme Court
Feldman and Sfarad [in their 50-page report to the clerk of the Israeli Supreme Court] describe the killing of Hamas activist Salah Shehada, who was assassinated last July with a one-ton aerial bomb that killed another 14 people, injured 150 people and destroyed numerous homes in the vicinity of Shehada's home: "It greatly pains us to say the following, but we do not have any choice, because the legal and moral truth obligates us to present these facts, in their full severity, before the honorable court: liquidation is a war crime, the consistent, widespread policy of targeted liquidations bounds on a crime against humanity and the State of Israel has turned its pilots into war criminals that hunt wanted men as if they were on a duck hunt (and duck hunting is also against the law)."
- Aryeh Dayan, Haaretz, May 21, 2003
We are killing civilians in the streets of Gaza and Ramallah, in the alleys of Jenin and Hebron, we are chasing cars with helicopters and blowing them up with missiles intended for use against tanks on the battlefield, we are sniping at civilians walking out of the front door of their home, we are booby-trapping phone booths and planting bombs, we are sowing destruction and ruin in numerous families, and all this without any legal procedure, without any evidentiary infrastructure of anything being presented to anyone. This is the biggest victory of all of the architects of death in the cafes and shopping centers.
- Attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfarad in their report to the Israeli Supreme Court
Between the first and last chapters, the document [by attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfarad presented to the Israeli Supreme Court] presents a detailed list of all of the liquidations and all of the attempted assassinations that Israel's security forces carried out between November 9, 2000, the day that a helicopter fired a missile in Beit Sahour that assassinated Fatah activist Hussein Salim Abiyat and the two women driving with him in his car, and April 29, 2003, the day that a missile fired from a helicopter liquidated Popular Front activist Nidal Salameh in Khan Yunis, along with the man driving with him in his car.
In the 29 months that have passed between these two killings, Israel carried out no less than 175 liquidation attempts. In other words, the document says, one attempt every five days.
...[T]he 175 events did result in the death or injury of hundreds of bystanders that had nothing to do with anyone who Israel wished to assassinate.
In these 175 cases, says the authors, 235 people were killed and 310 injured. Only 156 of the dead were described as targets. The other 79 were their relatives, neighbors or just bystanders. The age of 31 of the incidental dead varied from two months (the baby Dunia Matar, a neighbor of Shehada's in Gaza) and 18 years; 11 of these victims were women. The statistics of the injured is even more problematic: five of the wounded were people whom Israel intended to liquidate but failed in the mission; the remaining 305 wounded were relatives, neighbors or bystanders.
... [T]hey cite... the "mistaken liquidation of the two Israeli security guards near the settlement Pnei Hever," which took place on March 13, 2003. Feldman and Sfarad allege that the latter incident would not have happened if not for the liquidation policy pursued by the army and political echelons. "The army's investigation of the incident proves that the victims of the liquidation were given no opportunity to surrender or to lay down their weapons," they write.
- Aryeh Dayan, Haaretz, May 21, 2003
The high number of bystanders harmed by the liquidation policy, the immense number of wounded, the number of destroyed families, the innocent citizens who were killed, the children that we have handicapped for life, all of these victims of the Israeli assassination policy stand at the gates of the honorable court in a long line, and prove more than any cold legal argument that the means chosen by the IDF to realize the policy of liquidations is blatantly unlawful and immoral.
- Attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfarad in their report to the Israeli Supreme Court
posted by Unknown at 3/08/2005 12:57:00 a.m.
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