Posted on 01/06/2009 1:59:43 PM PST by presidio9
The recent carnage in Gaza has left little doubt that within the tortured dynamic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both the chicken and the egg have completely and utterly lost their minds.
Regardless of who's to blame for the origins of the conflict, shame on both Hamas and Israel for their recent violations of international law that have led to a humanitarian inferno in Gaza and southern Israel.
Hamas is to be blamed for its sophomoric provocation of its neighbor's military wrath by firing missiles into southern Israel. Israel also should be condemned for its disproportionately inhumane onslaught in Gaza, which has currently left 555 people dead and 2,750 injured, according to Palestinian medical sources cited by CNN. The United Nations estimates that at least 25 percent of Palestinians killed have been civilians.
Simply put, both sides have committed acts tantamount to "war crimes," and both continue to violate international law repeatedly in this nightmare.
Under international law, the Geneva Conventions prohibit armed reprisals that intentionally inflict "collective punishment" against civilian populations as well as the targeting of nonmilitary targets.
Both Israel (with its military onslaught in Gaza) and Hamas (with its primitive rocket-firing into southern Israel) violate Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, which states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
Further, the legal doctrine of "proportionality" originated in the 1907 Hague Conventions where, according to Lionel Beehner, writing for the Council of Foreign Relations, "a state is legally allowed to unilaterally defend itself and right a wrong provided the response is proportional to the injury suffered. The response must also be immediate and necessary, refrain from targeting civilians and require only enough force to
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
In current confrontations, Israel and their supporters must understand selective moral outrage leads worldwide condemnation. Acceptable political analysis offers the gullible a tortured rhetoric linking tightly focused visions of shattered hometown settings to fabricated motives equivalent to Sudanese militia.
Under these logics Israel is castigated for killing civilians. However, the clear and obvious reading of Articles 28 and 29 of the Fourth Geneva Convention says terrorist organizations such as Hammas are responsible for those deaths .
These civilians qualify as Protected Persons within Hammas’ physical control, and cannot be used to render certain points and areas immune from military operations. Terrorist organizations choose first to use the Arab people as biodegradable sandbags, and in death display them as props for advancing political agendas.
Excellent.
It’s unfair when militarily competent nations strike back at terrorists who intentionally target civilians.
CNN and Hamas are equally wrong.
If the German people deserved Dresden because they elected Hitler, then the Palis deserve whatever the Israelis dish out for electing Hamas.
This guy first tries to sound fair by condemning both sides but in the end, as written above, he believes "all wars are crimes" and thus any talk by him about military issues is mute.
Needless to say there is no "proportionality" in respect to claiming Israel is overreacting and yet neglecting to mention over 3,00 rockets were fired into Israel just last year. Nor the fact that Gaza had been "returned" to the Palis who then went and "hired" Hamas and immediately started shouting rockets across the border.
And, again, needless to say this guy doesn't enumerate the use of civilian areas (schools, hospitals etc) or civilian vehicles (especially ambulances) by Hamas or the lack of uniform or the rhetoric, all flagrant violations of "international law"
If Israel is killing 75% terrorists even while the terrorists are hiding behind civilians, I'm impressed. As for proportionality, Hamas has for years done its best to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible. Israel is responding proportionately - by killing as many Hamas terrorists as possible. The fact that Israel has far more accurate weapons determines the efficiency of the Israeli response, without changing its proportionality. I would be disgusted, not just disappointed, with any nation that responded to the massive, "government"-sponsered targeting of civilians any more mildly than Israel is responding.
We are yet again getting the standard avalanche of hand-wringing about disproportionate response. I note with great interest that no a single one of these bloviating stuffed shirts is willing to step up and outline what they think a PROPORTIONATE response would be.
I can sum up the media in two words - MORAL COWARDS.
If they don’t destroy Hamas (initiate regime change), that would kind of make this whole exercise of their’s pointless, right? I kind of had a bad feeling about this when it started. I figured the only way Israel could come out winning was if they actually toppled the Hamas regime, which I haven’t heard any official Israeli spokesman actually say was the intent of this operation. I also knew the longer this dragged on the greater likelihood a big mistake would be made, like hitting a school. If the international community gets their way and Israel stops, Israel will only come out losing, because now Hamas will have international recognition as signatory to an internationally brokered deal. But what do I know? I rarely ever much attention to that region.
Would it make all these "proportionality" idiots (who totally misunderstand the relevant passages of the Conventions) if Israel were to forgo military action, and just fired 7,000 rockets indiscriminantly into the Gaza Strip?
First mistake: Abraham listened to Sarah, and "went into" Hagar, instead of waiting for Sarah's 'Child of the Promise'.
Second Mistake; The Children of Israel failed to follow the Almighty's orders, and left alive the remnant of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizites, Jebusites, Hivites, and Philistines. At least the last of the Amelekites (Haman & his family, in Esther) were finally wiped out.
Skip ahead 3,500 years....
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Proof positive that Israel has gone out of its way not to target civilians. Nearly every war or armed conflict results in far more civilian casualties than military casualties. That's why armed conflicts are characterized by large numbers of refugees. They are seeking 'refuge' from being caught in harm's way.
When nations use military armed force, they do need to weigh the costs of their military force on their objectives. Israel, probably more cognizant and respectful of this than any other nation in the region, well recognizes the social costs of the implied refugees and their dispacement by their operations.
When people criticize Israel for civilian casualties, they need to study history, such as World War II, where entire populations were annihilated by military movements.
The same people who clamour about 25% of those killed were civilians, also fail to recognize that in a population of Gaza strip being about 1.3 million and around 350,000 in the immediate vicinity of Gaza, only 555 are dead and 2,750 in casualties, with an assault force of about 10,000 means the battle should be a route and the force has been surgically implemented.
In conventional infantry tactics, roughly 10 times the military casualties are likely in civilian causalities.
Considering the enemy of the Israelis are also frequently non-uniformed personnel in terrorist organization, these reports also strongly indicate a massive amount of Israeli intelligence has allowed a surgical strike with regimental sized infantry forces. Had it not been surgical, instead of a 130 civilians out of 550 killed, we would be witnessing 4000+ civilians killed and probably 20,000+ civilian casualties. Considering the high population density, such numbers could easily be far greater in local civilian casualties and a greater number of refugee casualties.
Most people do not realize the cost to displace such large numbers of people and the civil consequences of such a large displacement if not well organized. Since Israel knows it must live with the long term consequences, the leaders of Israel and their military planners probably should be considered for Nobel Peace prizes for their vigilant efforts to isolate their force in a surgical fashion.
Considering early reports of Hamas summarily executing more Fatah personnel than counterattacking Israeli forces, it wouldn't be surprising if the majority of the civilians killed were caused by the Hamas than by the Israelis.
Memo to Arsalan Iftikhar: Tell your beloved “palestinians” that if they want to stop the IDF from kicking the crap out of them, its real simple - stop lobbing rockets into Israel.
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