World
Condemnation of Israel’s Expulsion Plan
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Israel’s
destruction of Palestinians’ homes is a war crime: human
rights groups.
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UNITED
NATIONS, July 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan joined the condemnation of Israel's plan to expel
to the Gaza Strip relatives of West Bank Palestinian resistance
activists, saying it amounts to collective punishment, news agencies
reported Saturday, July 20, 2002.
"The
Secretary General is disturbed by reports that the Israeli government
have again destroyed the homes of Palestinians in the West Bank, and
are considering the forcible transfer of relatives of suicide bombers
from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard
said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"While
he has repeatedly condemned suicide bombings and upheld Israel's right
to defend itself, the Secretary-General wishes to make clear that
self-defense cannot justify measures that amount to collective
punishments."
The
Israeli threat also drew opposition from the government's legal
adviser as well as the United States.
France,
for its part, warned that Israel would be violating the Geneva
Convention if it went ahead with the planned expulsions.
The
measure also sparked Palestinian fury, and threats of bloody
retaliation from the resistance group Hamas.
In
London, the human rights body Amnesty International appealed Friday to
Israel not to expel the relatives of Palestinian activists from the
West Bank to the Gaza Strip, denouncing the plan as collective
punishment and therefore illegal.
"The
forcible transfer of these people under these circumstances is
collective punishment," Amnesty International said. "We call
on the Israeli government not to carry out such measures."
"If
anyone of those arrested is suspected of a recognizably criminal
offence, he should be promptly charged and brought to trial.
Otherwise, he should be released," the organization added.
It
recalled that under international humanitarian law collective
punishment was illegal.
"No
protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not
personally committed," Amnesty said, citing Article 33 of the
Fourth Geneva Convention.
Protected
persons were those living in territory under military occupation, as
had been the case with the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967.
"The
unlawful transfer of protected persons constitutes a war crime under
the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court," a statement continued: "Under the Rome
Statute, which reflects customary international law, such violations
may also constitute crimes against humanity."
Amnesty
said Israeli forces also demolished at least two homes of 21 people
arrested. "That too amounts to collective punishment prohibited
by international humanitarian law," it insisted.
Israel
on Friday rounded up 21 fathers and brothers of West Bank Palestinians
linked to anti-Israel attacks this week and threatened to expel them
to the Gaza Strip as a new form of punishment.
However,
Israel's Attorney General, Elyakim Rubinstein, the government's legal
adviser, said he opposed deporting the families without "tangible
evidence" of their involvement in anti-Israeli attacks, casting
doubt on the plan.
Raanan
Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the expulsion
plan, a sign of Israel's frustration at failing to stop attacks
despite a massive West Bank clampdown, would be submitted to the
cabinet.
Sharon
and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer voiced
"displeasure" at Rubinstein's position, Israeli TV reported,
arguing that "legal considerations should not prevent
indispensable measures from being taken in times of war."
And
in a rare criticism, the Israeli expulsion plan ran into opposition
Friday from the United States.
"We
believe that these actions will not solve Israel's security
problems," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told
reporters.
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