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Adalah: IDF actions in Lebanon are war crimes according to int'l law | ||
Yoav Stern Haaretz | ||
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Adalah, an Israeli Arab legal association, said on Sunday that Israel's actions in Lebanon are effectively war crimes under the precedents set by the international court in the Hague.
Adalah sent a letter on Sunday to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, quoting court rulings regarding military action aimed at civilian targets. These include the killing of civilians, bombing villages and demolishing houses, all of which constitute a violation of international humanitarian law, and are in effect war crimes, according to Adalah's report. The letter quotes one ruling from 2000, regarding the war in the former Yugoslavian Republic. The court convicted military generals and top politicians of war crimes and sentenced them to 15-45 years of jail. Though the defendants claimed their actions were justified due to immediate operational needs, the court dismissed these claims and refused to vindicate them. The Israeli Arab organization claims that the Israel Defense Force's actions in Lebanon bear a striking resemblance to those of the Yugoslavian leaders. During the trial on the Yugoslavian case, the court ruled as follows: "The acts of war carried out with disregard for international humanitarian law and in hatred of other people, the villages reduced to rubble, the houses and stables set on fire and destroyed, the people forced to abandon their homes, the lost and broken lives are unacceptable. "The international community must not tolerate such crimes, no matter where they may be perpetrated, no matter who the perpetrators are and no matter what the reasons for them may be. If armed conflict is unavoidable, those who have the power to take decisions and those who carry them out must ensure that the most basic rules governing the law of nations are respected. "International courts, today this Tribunal, tomorrow the International Criminal Court, must appropriately punish all those, and especially those holding the highest positions, who transgress these principles." | ||