Israel gets nod for "targeted killings"
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thursday December 14, 6:43 PM Reuters
*Israel gets nod for "targeted killings"*
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's top court on Thursday rejected a demand
by civil liberties groups for a blanket ban on the military's "targeted
killings" of Palestinian armed faction leaders, saying the tactic could
be justified under laws of war.
Using air strikes or covert commandos, Israel has tracked and killed
many scores of Palestinian militants during 6 years of fighting,
missions that have also regularly caused civilian casualties. The
practice has drawn global censure and charges that Israel is pursuing an
illegal assassinations policy.
While Israel has largely put the controversial operations on hold as
part of a Gaza Strip truce declared last month, defence officials say
they are still the best last resort for preventing attacks by militants
who cannot be easily caught and prosecuted.
The High Court of Justice, rejecting petitions filed by a
pro-Palestinian lobby and another rights group in 2002, ruled that the
state's arguments could have legal merit in some cases.
"Arrest, investigation, and trial are not means that can always be used.
At times, no such possibility exists; at times it involves such a great
risk to the lives of (Israeli) troops, that it is not required," the
three-justice panel said.
"Thus it is decided that it cannot be determined in advance that every
targeted killing is prohibited according to customary international law,
just as it cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing
is permissible according to customary international law."
Palestinians cried foul at the ruling.
"Assassination is a form of crime that cannot be justified," said Saeb
Erekat, an adviser to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who
shares power with Hamas Islamists sworn to Israel's destruction. "It is
unbecoming of a nation state."
ISRAEL EYES FOREIGN LAWSUITS
A senior Israeli jurist voiced hope that the High Court ruling would
help military commanders fend off a slew of private war crimes lawsuits
filed against them in foreign courts.
"A ruling of this kind provides enormous protection," deputy state
attorney Shai Nitzan told Israel's Army Radio.
A pro-Palestinian group tried to have the former chief of Israel's armed
forces, Moshe Yaalon, arrested as he visited New Zealand last month, but
was blocked by local legal authorities.
According to an Israeli newspaper, the group wanted Yaalon tried for
ordering a 2002 air strike on a Gaza apartment block that killed a Hamas
chief along with at least 14 civilians.
In its ruling, the High Court laid out parameters for what it deemed
acceptable "collateral damage" in such circumstances.
"Attacks should be carried out only if the expected harm to innocent
civilians is not disproportional to the military advantage to be
achieved by the attack," it said.
"For example, shooting at a terrorist sniper shooting at soldiers or
civilians from his porch is permitted, even if an innocent passer-by
might be harmed ... However, that is not the case if the building is
bombed from the air and scores of its residents and passers-by are harmed.
"Between these two extremes are the hard cases. Thus, a meticulous
examination of every case is required."
Palestinian rights groups say almost 400 militants have been tracked and
killed by Israeli forces in missions that also claimed the lives of more
than 200 innocent bystanders. Israel says its forces are under orders to
target militants only.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)