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We regret that our press
release below (“OPT: Civilians Must Not Be Used to Shield Homes Against
Military Attacks”) gave many readers the impression that we were criticizing
civilians for engaging in nonviolent resistance. This was not our intention. It
is not the policy of the organization to criticize non-violent resistance or
any other form of peaceful protest, including civilians defending their homes.
Rather, our focus is on the behavior of public officials and military
commanders because they have responsibilities under international law to
protect civilians.
It has also
become clear to us that we erred in assessing the main incident described in
the press release. We said that the planned IDF attack on the house of a
military commander in the Popular Resistance Committee, Muhammadwail Barud,
fell within the purview of the law regulating the conduct of hostilities during
armed conflict. We criticized Barud for reportedly urging civilians to assemble
near the house in order to prevent the attack, in apparent violation of that
law. Our focus was not on the civilians who assembled, their state of mind, or
their behavior (such as whether they willingly assembled or not), but on Barud
for risking the lives of civilians.
We have since concluded that we were wrong, on the basis of the available
evidence, to characterize the IDF’s planned destruction of the house as an act
of war. If the planned attack against the house – a three-story building
housing three families - was, in fact, an administrative action by the Israeli
government aimed at punishing a militant for his alleged activities, the law
regulating the conduct of hostilities during armed conflict would not apply and
could not be violated.
An important consideration in this regard is whether the IDF had reason to
believe that the house was being used for military purposes at the time of the
planned attack. To date, Human Rights Watch has not obtained conclusive
evidence as to whether the house was being so used, but eyewitnesses we have
been able to speak with, including two journalists on the scene, claim they saw
no such evidence. The IDF, moreover, has not responded to our requests to
explain what military objective it could have had in targeting not a militant
but his home after having ordered it vacated.
We recognize that it is important to view the planned destruction of Barud’s
house in light of Israel’s
longstanding policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
sharply increased in Gaza
since June, of demolishing houses not as legitimate military targets but as a
punitive measure. HRW has repeatedly criticized Israel for unlawful demolition of
houses.
Our intention in issuing this press release was to underscore one of the most
fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: the obligation of
warring parties to take all feasible measures to spare civilians from harm.
This includes the important principle that parties to a conflict, including military
leaders and civilian officials, may not use civilians to “shield” against a
military attack or otherwise unnecessarily put civilian lives at risk.
Unfortunately, judging by the response, we did more to cloud the issues than
clarify them in the press release.
This continues to be a live issue in the Israeli-Palestinian armed conflict. In
July 2006, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups documented the IDF’s
forcible use of Palestinians as human shields in a well publicized incident
during military operations in Beit Hanoun. According to the groups, the IDF
blindfolded six civilians, including two minors, and forced them to stand in
front of soldiers who took over civilian homes during a raid in northern Gaza. And on November 3,
Hamas militants hid behind civilian women when exiting from a mosque where the
militants had been cornered by IDF forces after more than two days of fighting.
The fact that the women voluntarily went to aid the men does not absolve the
militants of their duty not to endanger civilians. Both of these cases took
place in the course of armed conflict so that the laws of war did apply.
We invite readers to visit our website at www.hrw.org to see all that we have
said on the conflict between Israel
and the Palestinians. We continue to urge all parties to this conflict to
respect international humanitarian law, whatever their share of its violations,
and most important, to keep civilians out of it as much as possible.
OPT: Civilians Must Not Be
Used to Shield Homes Against Military Attacks
(Jerusalem,
November 22, 2006) – Palestinian armed groups must not endanger Palestinian
civilians by encouraging them to gather in and around suspected militants’
homes targeted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Human Rights Watch said
today.
Calling civilians to a location that the opposing side has identified for
attack is at worst human shielding, at best failing to take all feasible
precautions to protect civilians from the effects of attack. Both are
violations of international humanitarian law.
According to media reports, on Saturday the IDF warned Muhammadwail Barud, a
commander in the Popular Resistance Committees, to leave his home in the
Jabaliya refugee camp as they planned to destroy it. Barud reportedly summoned
neighbors and friends to protect his house, and a crowd of hundreds of
Palestinians gathered in, around, and on the roof of the house. The IDF said
that they called off the attack after they saw the large number of civilians
around the house. On Monday, the BBC also reported that the IDF had warned Wael
Rajab, an alleged Hamas member in Beit Lahiya, that that they were preparing to
attack his home, and that a call was later broadcasted from local mosques for
volunteers to protect the home.
“There is no excuse for calling civilians to the scene of a planned attack,”
said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director
at Human Rights Watch. “Whether or not the home is a legitimate military
target, knowingly asking civilians to stand in harm’s way is unlawful.”
Various media have reported that other Palestinian officials and armed groups
have voiced support for these tactics. In a visit to Barud’s house on Sunday,
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority reportedly
said: “We are so proud of this national stand. It’s the first stop toward
protecting our homes ... so long as this strategy is in the interest of our
people, we support this strategy.” A spokesman for the Popular Resistance
Committees was also quoted as saying: “We call upon all the fighters to reject
evacuating their houses, and we urge our people to rush into threatened houses
and make human shields.”
“Prime Minister Haniyeh and other Palestinian leaders should be renouncing, not
embracing, the tactic of encouraging civilians to place themselves at risk,”
said Whitson.
On November 3 the BBC also reported that Hamas radio broadcasted an appeal to
local women to go to a mosque to protect 15 alleged militants holed up inside
from Israeli forces surrounding the building. Many women went to the mosque and
reportedly two were killed and 10 more injured when Israeli forces opened fire.
It is a war crime to seek to use the presence of civilians to render certain
points or areas immune from military operations or to direct the movement of
the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield
military objectives from attack. In the case where the object of attack is not
a legitimate military target, calling civilians to the scene would still
contravene the international humanitarian law imperative for parties to the
conflict to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians from the effects
of attack. In the event that such abuse takes place, however, parties to the
conflict remain obliged under international humanitarian law to take
precautionary measures and not to target civilians or cause excessive civilian
injury or damage in relation to the anticipated concrete and direct military
advantage.
In other words, while civilians placing themselves in the way of military
actions take on heightened risks, they cannot be considered legitimate targets
by the opposing force, and parties to the conflict should cancel or suspend
attacks where excessive civilian damage is anticipated. Human Rights Watch said
that the IDF had properly respected its obligations under international
humanitarian law in suspending the attack on the Barud home that would have
caused substantial civilian harm.
Human Rights Watch, however, also reminded the IDF that even in the absence of
deliberately orchestrated measures to maximize a civilian presence near its
targets, any destruction of civilian property must be done strictly in
compliance with international humanitarian law. An ostensibly civilian object
such as a home can be the subject of attack only if it is being used for
military purposes at the relevant time and its destruction makes a direct and
immediate contribution to the fighting.
“The IDF should immediately explain what its military objective is in targeting
the homes that it has ordered to be vacated,” said Whitson.
According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, between July and
November 15 this year, the IDF destroyed 251 homes in Gaza, leaving 1577 people homeless. In 105 of
these cases the IDF destroyed the home by airstrike after warning the
inhabitants to leave. While the IDF generally claims that militants used those
homes to store weapons, they have not presented any concrete evidence in
individual cases.
Human Rights Watch has also reported
extensively on the coerced use of Palestinian civilians during military
operations, and documented the use of Palestinian civilians as “human
shields” and for military purposes during the Israeli military operations in
Jenin in 2002. The Israeli High Court confirmed the illegality of using human
shields in 2002.
As recently as July 2006, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups have
documented the IDF’s forcible use of Palestinians as human shields in a well
publicized incident during military operations in Beit Hanoun. According to the
groups, the IDF blindfolded six civilians, including two minors, and forced
them to stand in front of soldiers who took over civilian homes during a raid
in northern Gaza.
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