Hamas wants to go to court
As many of you already know, this morning, Switzerland accused Israel of violating the Geneva Conventions by its conduct in the Gaza Strip.According to the Swiss foreign ministry, "A number of actions by the Israel Defense Forces in their offensive against the Gaza Strip have violated the principle of proportionality and are to be seen as forms of collective punishment, which is forbidden. There is no doubt that Israel has not taken the precautions required of it in international law to protect the civilian population and infrastructure."
I guess they have forgotten about the Convention provision that says that the presence of civilians, "shall not be used to render . . . areas immune from military operations. . . . in attempts to shield military objectives from attack."
According to HaAretz, "Switzerland, as the depository of the conventions, has a responsibility to call meetings if it finds general problems with the implementation of the treaty, but it does not have any special powers to interpret the document."
But now that the Swiss have raised the issue, the 'Palestinians' have decided to run with it. Hamas' 'Justice Minister' is preparing a petition to the 'International Criminal Court' in the Hague, which will charge Israel with 'war crimes' over the latest bombings in Gaza, and the arrests of the 'Palestinian'
Just so that none of you miss the real agenda here, YNet reports that "The minister warned that if the court fails to stop Israel's aggression against the Palestinians, Hamas will have no choice but to use violence in order to protect the Palestinian people."
According to al-Khalidi:
Suing Israel in the international court is a test for international institutions. If they deny the rights of Palestinians, then the international community has to act responsibly when it comes to blocking the legal channels to the Palestinians, forcing them to use violence to defend ourselves and our people.For a 'people' supposedly on the verge of starvation and a 'humanitarian crisis' they sure seem to have a lot of money to waste on lawyers' fees. But as a lawyer, I can tell you that they have a slight problem. You see, you cannot force a state into court - under the sovereign immunity rule, they have to agree to come. Neither Israel, nor for that matter the United States, accepts the jurisdiction of the 'International Criminal Court.' Neither country signed the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court that would have made them subject to its jurisdiction. Thank you George W. Bush (if the US had signed there is little doubt that Israel would have signed).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:52 AM
2 Comments:
Besides the U.S. and Commonwealth countries, Israel is the only country I can think of offhand that even gives lip service to the Conventions. Does all this mean that the pali gov. is going to suddenly treat CPL Shalit as a POW, complete with ICRC welfare visits? Feh!
May G-d bless and keep all those soldiers of the U.S., Israel, and allies who are serving as the last line of defense against the darkness.
The Swiss violated (and continues to violate) international law by keeping Jewish money that was confiscated by the Nazis during WWII. Until they correct this injustice, they are utter hypocrites.
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