Criticism
Of Israel's
War Crimes Mounts
By Jonathan Cook
09 January,
2009
Countercurrents.org
Nazareth:
Criticism by international watchdog groups over the increasing death
toll in Gaza mounted this week as the first legal actions inside Israel
were launched accusing the army of intentionally harming the enclave’s
civilian population.
The petitions – over attacks on medical personnel and the shelling
of United Nations schools in Gaza – follow statements by senior
Israeli commanders that they have been using heavy firepower to protect
soldiers during their advance on built-up areas. “We are very
violent,” one told Israeli media.
There is also growing evidence that Israeli forces have been firing
phosphorus shells over densely populated areas in a move that risks
violating international law by inflicting burns on civilians.
The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, meanwhile, called the
events in Gaza a “new Nakba”, referring to the catastrophe
that dispossessed the Palestinians in 1948. The Palestinian Authority
revealed that it was planning to seek the prosecution of Israel’s
leaders for war crimes in the international courts.
The legal challenges follow a wave of Israeli attacks on schools,
universities, mosques, hospitals and ambulances in the past few days.
The army claims the attacks are justified because the sites are being
used by Hamas fighters.
A petition to the Israeli courts was announced on Wednesday by Taleb
al Sanaa, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament, over the shelling
on Tuesday of a UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp that killed
at least 40 Palestinians sheltering there.
UN officials, noting that they had passed on the school’s GPS
co-ordinates to Israel and that it was clearly marked with a UN flag,
insisted that only civilians had sought refuge at the school. The
UN has demanded an investigation.
Mr al Sanaa said the petition would name the prime minister, Ehud
Olmert, the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and Ehud Barak, the defence
minister, as the responsible parties. “Israel needs to decide
whether it wants to be a terrorist organisation like Hamas or respect
international law,” he said.
A further petition has been launched by eight Israeli human rights
groups, demanding that Israel’s Supreme Court ban the army from
targeting ambulances and medical personnel.
The petition cites a large number of cases in which Israel has fired
on ambulances, arguing that as a result medics have been unable to
treat the wounded or transport them to hospital.
Palestinian medics said 21 of their staff have been killed by Israeli
fire and many more wounded, according to reports on Al Jazeera TV.
The Al Durra hospital in Gaza City was hit on Tuesday, and a day later
three mobile clinics run by a Danish charity, DanChurchAid, were destroyed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross dropped its usual diplomatic
language this week in denouncing Israel’s refusal to allow medical
teams to tend the wounded.
During a three-hour pause in the fighting on Wednesday rescuers managed
to reach the Zaytoun neighbourhood, south-east of Gaza City, that
was extensively bombed at the start of the week.
Four children were found close to starvation alongside 15 bodies,
including those of their mothers. Many other civilians were found
dead in the area, and others are believed still to be in hiding. Israeli
tanks were stationed nearby the destroyed buildings during the whole
period.
Pierre Wettach, a Red Cross spokesman, called Israel’s delay
in allowing a medical evacuation “shocking” and “unacceptable”.
He added: “The Israeli military must have been aware of the
situation but did not assist the wounded.”
Physicians for Human Rights in Israel added its voice, criticising
the Israeli authorities for repeatedly ignoring requests to move seriously
wounded civilians.
The UN suspended its aid operations on Thursday after two of its drivers
were killed and others wounded by Israeli fire directed at one of
its relief convoys during another three-hour ceasefire.
John Ging, head of the UN relief agency in Gaza, said: “They
were co-ordinating their movements with the Israelis, as they always
do, only to find themselves being fired at from the ground troops.”
Palestinian sources and international observers warned that the death
toll among civilians is rising rapidly as Israel’s ground invasion
pushes deeper into Gaza.
Al Haq, a Palestinian legal rights group, warned that 80 per cent
of the more than 750 Palestinians killed in the fighting so far have
been civilians. According to figures cited by the World Health Organisation,
at least 40 per cent have been children. Another 3,000 Gazans have
been wounded.
Israeli commanders were reported in the Israeli media to be unsurprised
by the heavy toll on civilians of their latest actions, saying their
priority was to protect soldiers.
“For us, being cautious means being aggressive,” one told
the Haaretz newspaper. “From the minute we entered, we’ve
acted like we’re at war. That creates enormous damage on the
ground.”
The newspaper said the government had taken into account the likely
high number of Palestinian civilian casualties when it approved the
ground operation a week ago.
Another soldier, identified as Lt Col Amir, told Israeli TV on Wednesday:
“We are very violent. We are not shying away from any method
of preventing casualties among our troops.”
Among the dubious tactics the army appears to be resorting to is use
of white phosphorus shells, which burn intensely on exposure to air
creating the firework-type explosions characteristic of Israel’s
shelling of Gaza.
Although the shells produce dense clouds of smoke to cover military
operations, they also cause severe burns on contact with skin.
Photographs of pale blue artillery shells lined up by tanks stationed
on the edge of Gaza have been identified as American-made phosphorus
munitions. Neil Gibson, a missiles expert for Jane’s, told the
London Times that the shells were an “improved model”
that burned for up to 10 minutes.
Although such shells are allowed when used solely as a smoke screen,
they are banned as a chemical weapon if used as an anti-personnel
munition. Palestinian and international medics in Gaza have reported
large numbers of burns victims with injuries difficult to treat.
Yesterday, Amnesty International also accused Israeli soldiers of
using Palestinian civilians as human shields – a charge Israel
has repeatedly levelled against Hamas.
Malcolm Smart, a spokesman, said: “Israeli soldiers have entered
and taken up positions in a number of Palestinian homes, forcing families
to stay in a ground-floor room while they use the rest of their house
as a military base and sniper position.”
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in
Nazareth, Israel. His latest book is “Disappearing Palestine:
Israel's Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website
is www.jkcook.net.
A version of this article originally appeared in The National (www.thenational.ae),
published in Abu Dhabi.