…according to Human Rights Watch. The L.A. Times today runs this story:
A leading human rights organization charged today that Palestinians who order and dispatch suicide bombers, including senior leaders, are guilty of war crimes and should be brought to justice.
In a comprehensive, 170-page report, the New York-based Human Rights Watch also says that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat bears “significant political responsibility” for the “repeated deliberate killing” of Israeli civilians in the last two years of blood-soaked conflict.
“The scale and systematic nature of these attacks in 2001 and 2002 meet the definition of a crime against humanity,” the report states. “When these suicide bombings take place in the context of violence that amounts to armed conflict, they are also war crimes.”
Damn.
I’m not sure how they went from groundless accusations about Jenin to this, but it certainly seems like a positive step…
Just because the accusations could not be proven due the refusal of cooperation of the Israelian government doesn’t mean they are groundless. If they had been groundless, there should have been no reason for Sharon to allow access immediately.
I agree with people that say that America loses creditibility when it comes to Iraq because of how they turn a blind eye to Sharon over and over again. After all, if Iraq refuses U.N. inspectors, America beats the drum of war.. and when it comes to Israel nothing happens.. (or seems to happen at least)
Speaking of Iraq, I am, very reluctantly, starting to agree with Tom Spencer on the fact that it was politically motivated instead of taking care of the threat. I do think Iraq is a threat and I am somewhat disappointed by the government’s lack of action on this point (and for the media to focus on completely different issues once again).
Donovan:
Start with this link:
http://www.honestreporting.com/Critiques/2002/67_jenin4.asp
A quote from the UN study on Jenin:
Report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant
to General Assembly resolution ES-10/10 (Report on Jenin)
…
Fighting was fierce in the refugee camp. A number of Palestinian fighters, estimated at around 150, handed themselves in to the IDF on the last days.
Palestinians had claimed that between 400 and 500 people had been killed, fighters and civilians together. They had also claimed a number of summary executions and the transfer of corpses to an unknown place outside the city of Jenin.
The number of Palestinian fatalities, on the basis of bodies recovered to date, in Jenin and the refugee camp in this military operation can be estimated at around 55. Of those, a number were civilians, four were women and two children. There were 23 Israeli fatalities in the fighting operations in Jenin.
A.L.
There is, surely, a stronger argument that Hussein is guilty of “crimes against humanity” – why isn’t he being indicted ? This seems like a reasonable precursor to the summary “bullet through the head” that Fleischer et.al. are advocating.
Of course the US doesn’t have much truck with international courts.
Palestinian suicide bombers are war criminals, but those held at Guantanamo are not ? Makes sense to me.
-Simon
Well, for starters, the guys at Gitmo aren’t war criminals, they are in effect POW’s in an undeclared war. They were foot soldiers in an army we defeated.
That’s not good, but it’s not as bad as blowing the crap out of pizza parlors and hotel dining rooms.
And I’m of a mixed mind on international courts, myself. In a world where Khadaffy chairs the UN Human Rights Commission, I’d be a fool not to be.
A.L.
damn! thanks for this – I’m putting it into my nanowrimo novel. not just like this, but the book is all about witnessing and speaking truth to power. as always, you are wunnerful ;->