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.
PHOTO: AP
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.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS