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Israeli court rules against `human shield' practice

An Israeli soldier leans his hand on the back of a handcuffed Palestinian resident as he is made to enter before the soldiers inside a building during a search operation in the Old City of the West Bank town of Nablus in August. PHOTO: AP

Israel's Supreme Court yesterday banned the military's practice of using Palestinian civilians as "human shields" in arrest raids, saying it violates international law.

The court ruled in response to petitions by human rights groups.

In August 2002, the court had issued a temporary injunction against the practice. Human rights groups have said the military has repeatedly violated the ban since then.

In yesterday's final ruling, the court said the practice amounts to a "slide down the slope toward a severe violation of international law."

Marwan Dallal, an attorney for the Israeli human rights group Adallah, said: "It's an important decision, but we need to see if the military will abide by it."

The human shield practice became an issue in the spring of 2002, when the Israeli military carried out a major offensive in the West Bank, in response to a series of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants. During arrest raids, soldiers would sometimes force Palestinian civilians to approach the homes and hideouts of wanted people.

In August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student, Nidal Daraghmeh, was killed in such an incident in the West Bank town of Tubas. At the time, troops called Daraghmeh out of his house and forced him to knock at the door of a neighboring building where a senior Hamas fugitive was hiding out. Gunfire erupted and Daraghmeh was killed.

The Hamas fugitive later died in a shootout with soldiers.

Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that Israel is prepared to make gestures toward the Palestinians when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas next week,

"Any gesture on our part which could ease the daily life of the Palestinians without endangering our security may be considered," Olmert said on Israeli radio.

He notably alluded to the construction of Israeli army roadblocks in the West Bank, and new quotas of Palestinian workers allowed to ply their trades in Israel.

Olmert also mentioned the building of a Gaza port or the eventual freeing of Palestinian prisoners as other possibilities for discussion at Tuesday's summit.

"Abbas cannot however hope that prisoners with Israeli blood on their hands will be released," he stressed.

An interministerial mission, led by Justice Minister Tsippi Livni, has been set up to consider the options, he added.

Olmert said that Israel expected the Palestinian Authority for its part to "dismantle and disarm Palestinian terrorist organizations".

He also reiterated that "Israel opposes the participation of any terrorist organizations such as Hamas in the Palestinian election," scheduled for January.

According to Israeli radio, the Sharon-Abbas summit will probably be held at Sharon's Jerusalem residence.
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