Our word for today comes from this article by Louis Rene Beres at the Washington Times online (registration may be required).
Israel has just completed an essential defensive operation against terrorists in Rafah. Although televised images of this Gaza operation suggested cruelty and indiscriminate action by Israeli forces, exactly the opposite is true. By deliberately placing young Arab children in the front of large mobs that advanced menacingly upon Israeli soldiers, Palestinian leaders openly committed major violations of the Law of War. There is, in fact, a precise legal term for these violations, a term that applies equally to the Palestinian tactic of routinely inserting scores of gunmen among the lines of children. This codified crime under humanitarian international law is called "perfidy."
Knowing the name of something confers wisdom. Sometimes, it is necessary to invent a word, but there is no need for that now.
Terrorism is a crime under international law. When terrorists represent populations that enthusiastically support such attacks, and when these terrorists also find easy refuge among hospitable populations, all blame for ensuing counterterrorist harms lies exclusively with the criminals. Understood in terms of ongoing Palestinian terrorism and Israeli self-defense, this means that the Palestinian side alone must now bear full legal responsibility for Arab civilian casualties.International law is not a suicide pact. Rather, it correctly offers an authoritative body of rules and procedures that always permits states their "inherent right of self-defense." When terrorist organizations openly celebrate the explosive"martyrdom"of Palestinian children and unashamedly seek religious redemption through the mass-murder of Jewish children, they have absolutely no legal right to demand sanctuary anywhere. Under international law they are hostes humani generis, "common enemies of humankind," who must be punished wherever they are found.
No Sanctuary, moral or physical.
Deception can be legal in armed conflict, but the Hague Regulations disallow placement of military assets or personnel in heavily populated civilian areas. Further prohibition of perfidy is found in Protocol I of the 1977 addition to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and it is widely recognized that these rules also are binding on the basis of customary international law. Perfidy represents an especially serious violation of the Law of War, one identified as a "grave breach" in Article 147 of Geneva Convention IV. The full legal effect of perfidy committed by Palestinian terrorist leaders is to immunize Israel from any responsibility for counterterrorist harms done to Arab civilians.
All combatants, including Palestinian terrorists, are bound by the Law of War of international law. This requirement is found in Article 3, common to the four Geneva Conventions of Aug. 12, 1949, and at the two protocols to these Conventions. Protocol I applies humanitarian international law to all conflicts fought for "self-determination," the stated objective of all Palestinian fighters. This protocol brings all irregular forces within the full scope of international law.
In short, just because you're fighting for "self-determination" doesn't mean anything goes. The rhetorical question "We want to give these people a state?" implies that a people fighting for "self-determination" must do so in a way to QUALIFY for international recognition. Compliance with international law while struggling for independence assures the community of nations that the new comer will abide by international laws if succesful. Do you REALLY want to hire a man for a job, not because he's the only applicant for it, but because he shot everyone else who applied for it?
Just wars arise from love of the innocent. Still, in the midst of such a war against uniquely cruel enemies, Israel must continue to root out the terrorists in Gaza to avoid further mass murders of its citizens — murders that could soon involve chemical, biological or even nuclear agents. Although perfidious provocations by assorted Palestinian terror groups may repeatedly elicit Israeli reprisals that bring harm to Arab noncombatants, it is always these provocations — not Israel's defensive responses — that are violations of international law.
Here's the link to Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions. Go and read. Very informative. Extra credit for you if you can count how many violations the Palestinians have committed versus the Israelis.
Hattip Israpundit.
Posted by ptah at May 28, 2004 08:13 AM