Posted on 06/24/2002 7:55:00 AM PDT by kattracks
JERUSALEM, June 24 (Reuters) - Israeli officials said on Monday that legal experts were examining a government-backed plan to deport families of Palestinian suicide bombers as a means of deterring further deadly attacks. "The security cabinet has decided in principle to deport families of suicide bombers and leaders of terror groups from the West Bank to Gaza but this is under legal examination," an Israeli political source said, referring to the security cabinet that groups Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top ministers. Officials said the army and the Justice Ministry were examining the proposal, discussed by the security cabinet on Friday, and the attorney general would announce his decision within days. Some legal experts said it was far from certain the measure would get the go-ahead. Supporters of the plan, among them Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, say the attacks have left Israel little option but to expel the families of suicide bombers as a warning to others. "Suicide bombers should know there is a personal price to pay for blowing themselves up and that we cannot allow support of terror," Defence Ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikay said. Palestinian Labour Minister Ghassan al-Khatib said deportations would be a "very grave step" that would violate international law and "double the suffering of families who are already in pain after losing their sons due to occupation". "The decision if adopted will only contribute to increasing hatred and enmity and ignites violence instead of quelling it." Israeli rights groups also denounced the possibility of the deportations. "We think it infringes the basic moral rule that every man is responsible only for what he or she does and other people aren't responsible for their deeds," said Naama Carmi, chairwoman of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel. "Collective punishment like this is also not allowed in international law," she said, adding that families thought to have assisted an attack should be put on trial. Some relatives and friends of Palestinian suicide attackers have supported the actions of their loved ones, including Naima el Abed, who praised her son's actions hours before he carried out an attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza earlier this month. "This is the best day of my life. God willing, you will become a martyr and you will be successful," she said as she sat beside her son Mahmoud in a video recorded shortly before he was killed in a failed effort to infiltrate the settlement.LEGAL MINEFIELD A report in Israel's Maariv newspaper said on Monday that officials in the military prosecutor's office weighing the plan had determined there was "no possibility of deporting -- or striking in any other way" at the families of suicide bombers. It said members of the security establishment had also raised concerns that deportations could prompt petitions to law courts at home and abroad, and draw international criticism. "It's likely the High Court will declare the step illegal unless they can prove it is preventive and that in most cases the family knows before the attack," Menachem Hofnung, an expert in politics and law at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, said. "It's a slippery slope and a desperate move of a government after nothing else has worked. International law and public opinion are a consideration, but internal security issues and public opinion, which is related, are even more," he said. Sharon's government is struggling to cope with a wave of attacks in a Palestinian uprising against occupation in which at least 548 Israelis and 1,422 Palestinians have been killed since September 2000. Israel has begun building a fence along its West Bank frontier to prevent the infiltration of suicide bombers, and has in the past demolished their houses. One idea, floated by an Israeli minister but never executed, was to bury Muslim suicide bombers in pig skins, considered impure in Islam, in order to deter more strikes. Israeli officials said Israel deported about 400 Hamas militants to Lebanon in 1992 and it has exiled relatives of Palestinians blamed for killing Israelis, but it would be the first time such steps have been taken against whole families. ((Jerusalem newsroom, 972-2-537-0502, jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com))
24 JUN 2002 14:43:13 Israel weighs deporting suicide bomber families
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Sorry, can't help it, habits of an old copyeditor.
If the bomber's families rec' money for aiding and abetting in murder, deportation is hardly unreasonable. They should not be allowed to collect a bounty.
They must have been cruising my threads.
Un-freaking-believable (if utterly predictable). The Pallies indoctrinate their children in hate while toddlers, dressing innocent, big-eyed, uncomprehending 4 year olds in mock suicide garb, then, when they are 22, 18 or 14, strap the real thing to their bodies, carefully packed with screws and nails to riddle the flesh of their victims, and send them out to immolate themselves and murder civilians, having prepared celebratory posters, videos and wakes, but, despite all this effort and indoctrination and glorifaction in murder and infanticide, it's all the Jews' fault.
I definitely think the idea of punishing the family is appropriate. Fuggers making heros out of baby killers is sick sick sick.
Oh, yes. Is this the same group of people who want to punish all white Americans for the legacy of slavery? The same group who tax the "rich," the same people who want to punish Israel for "war crimes?
You bet they are.
Agreed. If they receive(d) $$$, DEPORT.
If there's evidence of prior knowledge and support of a family member murdering others, arrest and try as accomplices and punish appropriately if convicted...meaning IMPRISONMENT or EXECUTION or DEPORTATION or any combination thereof.
Don't forget the rat poison and "septic agents" to cause bleeding and infection in their victims.
I didn't know this until I heard Alan Keyes talk about it. This should be considered as a chemical and biological attack.
This practice needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
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