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“Deterring soldiers from carrying out their orders in the territories is ‘inconceivable,’” says Sharon |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, August 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered Sunday, August 4, Attorney-General
Elyakim Rubinstein to look into reports that activists from the Gush
Shalom peace organization are monitoring Israeli officers in order to
report them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, an
Israeli newspaper reported Monday, August 5.
In Sunday’s Israeli cabinet meeting, Sharon said it was
"inconceivable" that a political organization could try to
deter reservists from carrying out their orders in the territories by
threatening them with legal action in an international court, reported
Ha’aretz.
Israeli Ministers Limor Livnat and Dan Naveh, from the Likud party,
joined Sharon in calling on the attorney-general to look into taking
legal steps against the Gush Shalom activists. Naveh said it was
extremely grave that Israeli citizens were undermining the Israeli
forces in times of war, reported the paper.
In response, Rubinstein said the State Prosecutor's Office had been
looking into the case for several months, but had yet to decide
whether legal steps could be taken.
The organization has in past months sent warning letters to Israeli
officers who are on duty in the territories, telling them that they
are guilty of offenses tantamount to war crimes, the paper reported.
In
these letters, the officers have been warned that the movement is
monitoring their actions, and that Gush Shalom intends to compile
information against them which will be submitted to the ICC.
These
letters have been signed by “Gush Shalom’s team for the collection
of evidence against war criminals,” reported the paper.
Ha’aretz
reported that 15 Israeli officers ranking between lieutenant colonel
and brigadier general received these letters.
According
to the paper, Gush Shalom identified the officers on the basis of
interviews which they gave on local media during incursions in the
territories.
As
a result of these incursions, Palestinian residents in the territories
lodged complaints about Israeli army behavior; the peace movement
based its letters on these complaints.
In
one of these letters, said Ha’aretz, a brigadier general, who has
randomly arrested people in the occupied territories, was warned that
“taking hostages is a grave violation of the fourth Geneva
Convention.”
The
letter writers declare: “As citizens concerned about the status and
image of the state of Israel and the IDF ... we cannot quietly condone
such acts. We warn you that evidence about these acts has been
compiled, and put in a file that we are preparing.”
The
letter also warned the brigadier general to be careful and “refrain
from carrying out or taking operational responsibility for more acts
that represent violations of international law.”
One
high-ranking Israeli army officer, under whose command a number of the
officers “warned” by Gush Shalom serve, told Ha’aretz that the
letters are “an attempt to harm the morale” of soldiers.
Gush
Shalom (translated from Hebrew, the name means “The Peace Bloc”)
is the hard core of the Israeli peace movement.
Gush
Shalom is an extra-parliamentary organization, independent of any
party or other political grouping. Some of its activists do belong to
political parties, but the Gush is not aligned to any particular
party.
The
movement was established by Uri Avnery in 1993, a three term member of
the Israeli Knesset.
