Amnesty International: Israel Guilty Of War Crimes

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

Hundreds of civilians taking no part in the hostilities, including over 300 children and more than 100 civilian police cadets who were not directly participating in the hostilities, were killed in attacks by Israeli forces against the Gaza Strip.

Indescriminate Use Of Artillery
Civilian homes and other buildings, including medical facilities, schools and a university, were also damaged or destroyed by Israeli air strikes and artillery and other attacks – artillery is an area weapon, not one that can be used with pinpoint accuracy, and so should never be used in densely-populated civilian areas.

White Phosphorus
Amnesty International found that the Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary effect, in densely-populated civilian residential areas in and around Gaza City, and in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. The organization’s delegates found white phosphorus still burning in residential areas throughout Gaza days after the ceasefire came into effect on 18 January - that is, up to three weeks after the white phosphorus artillery shells had been fired by Israeli forces. Amnesty International considers that the repeated use of white phosphorus in this way in densely-populated civilian areas constitutes a form of indiscriminate attack, and amounts to a war crime

Flechettes
Flechettes are not specifically prohibited under international humanitarian law. However, their use in densely-populated civilian areas in Gaza contributed to unlawful killings of and injuries to civilians. Flechettes are 4cm long metal darts that are sharply pointed at the front, with four fins at the rear. Between 5,000 and 8,000 of these darts are packed into 120mm shells which are generally fired from tanks. The shells explode in the air and scatter the flechettes in a conical pattern over an area about 300m long and 100m wide. Flechette rounds are designed to be used against massed infantry attacks or squads of troops in the open and obviously pose a very high risk to civilians when fired in densely-populated civilian residential areas, as deployed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

Tank Rounds
Amnesty International delegates found fragments from 120mm tank rounds all over Gaza, including in homes where these munitions had killed children and other civilians. Tank rounds are precision munitions. The killings of so many civilians, many in their homes, indicates that these munitions were – at best – used in a reckless or indiscriminate manner. In Jabaliya, north Gaza, at the home of Dr Izz al-Din Abu al-‘Eish, a gynaecologist who works in an Israeli hospital, Amnesty International delegates found fragments of the two 120mm tank shells which were fired by Israeli soldiers into the bedroom of Dr Abu al-‘Eish’s daughters on the afternoon of 16 January. Three of the doctor’s daughters and his niece were killed on the spot and another daughter and niece were seriously injured.

Unmanned Drones
Amnesty International delegates in Gaza also found evidence of the use of a new type of missile, seemingly launched from unmanned drones, which explodes large numbers of tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2 and 4 mm square in size. This purpose-made shrapnel can penetrate even thick metal doors and many were seen by Amnesty International’s delegates embedded deep in concrete walls. They appear designed to cause maximum injury and, in some respects, seem to be a more sophisticated version of the ball-bearings or nails and bolts which armed groups often pack into crude rockets and suicide bombs.

A 13-year-old girl who was asleep in her bed; three primary school-age boys who were carrying sugar canes; two young women on their way to a shelter in search of safety; a 13-year-old boy on his bicycle; eight secondary school students who were waiting for the school bus to take them home; an entire family sitting in the courtyard of their home, and many others were all killed in attacks with these missiles.

Unlawful use of indiscriminate rockets by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups

Palestinian armed groups affiliated to Hamas and to other Palestinian factions (including the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s party) have been launching rockets into towns and villages in south Israel. Although most of these rockets fall in empty areas, they have caused the deaths of several Israeli civilians, injured scores and caused damage to civilian property.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on Hamas and all other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza to stop firing indiscriminate rockets against towns and villages in southern Israel, and continues to do so

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/012/2009/en/5be86fc2-994e-4eeb-a6e8-3ddf68c28b31/mde150122009en.html

[MoonMan]

I remember being so disgusted to watch the death toll rise substantially every single day of this conflict.

Wasn't it interesting that, no matter how many hundreds of Palestinians were killed, the number of dead was "always half" civilian? I don't buy that for a minute. I think an actual estimate of civilian casualties would be the overwhelming majority of the 1300 people killed.

[Hath]

Even half is a lot! Israel is crazy, and Palestine/Hamas really isn't helping their own cause either. Stupid religion...

[MoonMan]

This conflict has nothing to do with religion.

[Hath]

Maybe not directly, but the Muslims vs. Jews thing has been going on for thousands of years and is always an underlying cause in conflicts. They just plain hate each other. (Christianity is just as bad)

[cheapprick]

For some reason I can't load your link grab.

Is this it? (http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/hamas-waged-deadly-campaign-war-devastated-gaza-20090212)

[1cooldude]

no it's not>>

"Document - Israel / OPT: Fuelling conflict: Foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza
Amnesty International"

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/012/2009/en/5be86fc2-994e-4eeb-a6e8-3ddf68c28b31/mde150122009en.html

[cheapprick]

no it's not>>


Oh.

OK, thanks.

[MoonMan]

Maybe not directly, but the Muslims vs. Jews thing has been going on for thousands of years and is always an underlying cause in conflicts. They just plain hate each other. (Christianity is just as bad)

This is an invalid answer. People are people, and they aren't born to hate other religions. You mistake political propaganda for historical fact.

The very fact that all 22 or so countries currently with hostile or no relations to Israel have agreed to a final peace if Palestinians (re)achieve statehood punches holes in that religion vs religion argument.

[MoonMan]

I am really trying to stop replying to don, but I just wanted to say that this particular post right above my own in the mainstream media's viewpoint as well.

Isn't it something that the Israeli lobbyists are some of the most powerful and influential in Washington? Obviously our elected officials could give a rats ass about what goes on in a tiny corner of the world if it involves an ally, and especially if it means facing a tougher reelection fight.

[mountain_rage]

MoonMan the government can't condemn Israel for what they have done since they have done worse. Iraq was not even a threat to the U.S. yet they still invaded and killed thousands of innocent people. The U.S. only went into Iraq to gain a tactical position in the middle east. Israel at least has a legitimate reason to go to war, they are getting bombed day and night by people who want to wipe them off the face of the earth no matter what they do.

Btw there is no reason to believe that the majority of the 1300 casualties were civilian. whether you want to believe it or not, Israel does use tactics to lower civilian casualties, and its a miracle that so few died in the urban combat. Especially considering the tactics Hamas use. Don't let the atrocities of war blind you to the realities, its cruel and harsh but there isn't much of an alternative at this point. There has yet to be a war in a dense population that has not led to mass civilian casualties, so until we develop technology to give us that capability, these wars will continue to have high civilian casualties.

[Mucci Man]

Isn't it something that the Israeli lobbyists are some of the most powerful and influential in Washington?

Everyone knows that Israel has never, ever been wrong about anything in History. It’s where Jesus lives!

[gavrielgregor]

all you bleeding hearts, the hospitals & the schools were major sites of Hamas artillary &
Hamas for the millionth time is commited to Israel's destruction. America is a wonderful country of kindness & compassion but why does it have to put up with ACLU - style self
destructive acts & rhetoric? Let Israel defend herself from the very rockets that fall down on her while she tries to send a message to Hamas.

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

The West shuns Hamas because it refuses to recognize Israel, renounce violence and commit to interim peace deals with the Jewish state.

Israel behaves in exactly the same fashion to the Palestinians. The only difference is (and it's a pretty big one) is that while Hamas denies the existence of a Jewish state in words, Israel denies the existence of a Palestinian state in deed: through it's military actions, carried out illegally and brutally on a daily basis for the last 42 years.



More than 110 rockets and mortar shells have exploded in Israel in the six weeks since it ended its air and ground onslaught against Gaza, which was meant to end the rocket threat and stanch the flow of arms into Gaza.

In other words the military actions were an utter failure, just like every other military action for the last 42 years. Time to find a new strategy people.

[Rewstah]

Hello all.

Even under the current moral immunity conferred tacitly to Israel by the International Commission, its latest military actions - and most of the past, but I digress - can be justified under no principle of either self-defense or legitimate response. Civilian casualties approaching (or maybe even exceeding, who knows) 1000, the use of densely-populated areas as testing grounds for experimental weapons, the destruction of schools and hospitals under a vague pretext of Hamas presence... all these are universally condemned military behaviors. And I don't see why Israel should be exempt in any way from these incriminations.
Furthermore, the immorality of these actions can in no way be balanced by considerations of a foreign threat, on whatever level, as they operate on fundamentally incompatible grounds. Let alone when Israel is in such a dominating position in the conflict.


Palestinian children are being entertained and indoctrinated on television by a Mickey Mouse-knockoff who teaches them to fight for Israel's destruction and Islam's domination over the entire world.

Don_Webb, I see absolutely no connection between Israel's internationnally recognised War Crimes and the palestinian televised propaganda. You can talk all you want, this TV show is broadcasted on a channel owned by an organisation deemed terrorist by most countries. You cannot assimilate that to the palestinian state of mind, neither to the will of the people.
I will never try to justify what is said on those TV shows, they're a perfect example of how Palestine is not helping its own cause in the eyes of the rest of the world. But let me just end by saying they are one of many displays of an oppressed people's anger. You can't expect a powerless people who has suffered wars, blockades, massive civilian casualties, food/water/medication shortages, etc. to consider this conflict with total impartiality and have no resentment whatsoever towards its opressor: anger is bound to sprout and grow in individuals, and in some cases express itself in such extreme ways as those you have observed.

[mountain_rage]

Hello all.

Even under the current moral immunity conferred tacitly to Israel by the International Commission, its latest military actions - and most of the past, but I digress - can be justified under no principle of either self-defense or legitimate response. Civilian casualties approaching (or maybe even exceeding, who knows) 1000, the use of densely-populated areas as testing grounds for experimental weapons, the destruction of schools and hospitals under a vague pretext of Hamas presence... all these are universally condemned military behaviors. And I don't see why Israel should be exempt in any way from these incriminations.
Furthermore, the immorality of these actions can in no way be balanced by considerations of a foreign threat, on whatever level, as they operate on fundamentally incompatible grounds. Let alone when Israel is in such a dominating position in the conflict.



Don_Webb, I see absolutely no connection between Israel's internationnally recognised War Crimes and the palestinian televised propaganda. You can talk all you want, this TV show is broadcasted on a channel owned by an organisation deemed terrorist by most countries. You cannot assimilate that to the palestinian state of mind, neither to the will of the people.
I will never try to justify what is said on those TV shows, they're a perfect example of how Palestine is not helping its own cause in the eyes of the rest of the world. But let me just end by saying they are one of many displays of an oppressed people's anger. You can't expect a powerless people who has suffered wars, blockades, massive civilian casualties, food/water/medication shortages, etc. to consider this conflict with total impartiality and have no resentment whatsoever towards its opressor: anger is bound to sprout and grow in individuals, and in some cases express itself in such extreme ways as those you have observed.

Like most who are against Israel, you exude arrogance. Id love to see you move into the territories being bombed by Hamas and come back to state that it is unjust for Israel to defend themselves from those attacks. With Hamas having increased its rocket capabilities, this zone has only increased. By your rational Israel should tell its citizens to continue to live in the refuge of their bomb shelters, as its not right for their military to take action against Hamas. Although its horrible whenever civilians are caught in the cross fire, the civilian casualties in this war are actually lower than those of recent wars that have taken place in highly populated centers. Israel continues to try new tactics to lower these civilian casualties, the problem is that it often requires cooperation from the population, which they do not have. You can't help someone escape harm in a war, if they are ready and willing to die, or held hostage by a group willing to die and sacrifice the innocent for their cause. The blood of the civilians is the result of their own inaction, and the aggressive behavior of Hamas.

What is this balance you talk of, has there been some kind of expectation in war that they can only meet a certain quota, otherwise its atrocious. Should Israel only use technology from 50 years ago because thats all Hamas can aquire. This word balanced is mentioned a lot in reference to the war, but never put in context. Are you suggesting Israel shoot rockets erratically into Palestine? Should they only kill as many insurgence as Israelis killed? The whole balance issue, is simply a trigger word, it has been used to create a sense of injustice, but never explained.

You also talk of the Palestinians as powerless people, but this is directly due to the actions of Hamas. Israel can't change this by laying down their arms. Nor will any actions on the part of Israel increase the Palestinian territories ability to garner trade from other countries. The only way Palestinians will ever see the removal of their plight, is from the removal of Hamas, or by Hamas lowering their arms. Aid efforts have often been hijacked by Hamas, to bribe to people into support, and refuse it to those you oppose them. Your views of the war is exactly the result Hamas is trying to create. They know people will die due to their actions, and they create the situations that are likely to break Israels support. It doesn't matter if Israel is in the right or not since Hamas is playing on ingrained stigmas of the world. There have even been situations where they have killed their own people, but blamed the deaths on Israel. Hamas is playing an information war, and people like you have become their pawns.

Finally if you have some magical alternative for Israel lets hear it. You can sit here and cry foul about everything they should not be doing, but unless you have some alternative solution that has yet to be tried your argument is pointless. You can't expect them to bow down to pressure without offering some solution that will allow Israel to live safely and peacefully.