Hamas won't let the Red Cross see Shalit
Hamas has turned down a surprising Red Cross request to visit kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who will have been in captivity for three years on Thursday if he is not released. The only thing at all notable about this unsurprising answer is the tone that Hamas used - which ought to be waved in the faces of all those like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama who believe that Hamas is anything other than a terror organization. The de facto government in Gaza's Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs was astonished on Friday that the International Red Cross has asked Hamas to allow captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit regular contact with his family.There are two problems with this 'response' (aside from the fact that the answer was "no"). First, under the Geneva Convention, there is no right to family visits. The only visits that are allowed are Red Cross visits. Israel allows the Red Cross to see 'Palestinian' terrorist prisoners, and until recently also allowed family visits.
In a statement to Ma'an, the ministry said that the Red Cross' demand came while "Gaza prisoners have been continuously deprived family visits for more than two years, which has negatively affected their living and psychological situation."
The International Committee of the Red Cross has continuously backed calls for the captors of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to return him to Israel, or at the least allow him regular contact with either his family or international workers who examine prison conditions. Hamas has generally refused, citing security reasons.
"In addition, the [Red Cross] was unable to deliver message from Palestinian families to prisoners from Gaza, claiming they can't pressure Israel on this issue," the statement noted.
"Under what pretext of international law is it that the Red Cross can demand that Hamas allow Shalit to contact his family?" the the de facto government ministry asked. "Did the Red Cross denounce the [Israeli] occupation for its daily violations of international law against Palestinian prisoners, who are deprived from every human right?"
Second, the Red Cross asked to see Shalit itself, and asked to allow him contact with - but not visits from - his family.
Since his abduction just outside the Gaza Strip in June 2006, the ICRC has tried to deliver messages to Schalit from his family, but these efforts have not succeeded, Yael Segev-Eytan, spokeswoman for the ICRC in Israel, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.Don't hold your breath waiting for Hamas to allow anyone to see Shalit either. We are unlikely to have any idea how he is faring unless and until we trade hundreds of terrorists to get him back.
"It is Hamas's legal obligation under international humanitarian law to allow him regular contact with his family," she said. "We will use every means at our disposal to get in contact with [Schalit], but it is ultimately up to [Hamas] to implement the law and open the door for us to free Gilad."
All requests for contact and information on the status of the captive tank gunner have been refused by Hamas. The ICRC has been in contact with Hamas officials located in both Gaza and Damascus.
But what Hamas' response does show is how little regard they have for 'international law.' That needs to be waved in the faces of the western governments who complain about Israel's 'human rights violations' in the Gaza Strip.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:17 AM
3 Comments:
B"H
Yep. Typical double standards.
Where has the so called "international community's" outrage been?
Where has the mainstream media's coverage of the obvious double standards been?
Absent. Typical.
Bibi is almost as foolish about this as Olmert was.
1) Israel should not be entertaining the notion for even a moment of freeing hundreds of Hamas killers to get back Gilad. Under Olmert, Israel released hundreds of Hamas terrorists just to keep the negotiations going, without even receiving conclusive evidence that Gilad was still alive.
2) Bibi should be preparing a military action to retrieve either Gilad or his remains from Gaza.
3) I'm sure to Gilad's family, the prospect of getting him back alive is worth any price or humiliation that Israel has to endure. But observant Jews should know that the prohibition against paying an excessive ransom is there for a reason.
4) Bibi should not allow this to go on forever. Get Gilad back either dead or alive, and make damn sure the people who took him pay such a high price that their successors will wait for another leftist PM before they try anything like that again.
Hamas wants the benefits of international law but does not have to follow it. This should give pause to those who want to drop the Quartet conditions to talk to the terrorist organization and who ask Israel to drop the loophole-riddled embargo of Gaza altogether.
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