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During War There Are No Civilians
Sitting in on the Rachel Corrie trial alarmingly reveals an open Israeli policy of indiscrimination towards civilians.
"During War there are no civilians," that's what "Yossi," an Israeli military (IDF) training unit leader simply stated during a round of questioning on day two of the Rachel Corrie trials, held in Haifa's District Court earlier this week. "When you write a [protocol] manual, that manual is for war," he added.
The Corries' lawsuit charges the State with recklessness and a failure to take appropriate measures to protect human life, actions that violate both Israeli and international laws. (Photograph: Denny Sternstein/AP) For the human rights activists and friends and family of Rachel
Corrie sitting in the courtroom, this open admission of an Israeli
policy of indiscrimination towards civilians -- Palestinian or foreign
-- created an audible gasp.
Yet, put into context, this policy comes as no surprise. The Israeli military's track record of insouciance towards the killings of Palestinians, from the 1948 massacre of Deir Yassin in Jerusalem to the 2008-2009 attacks on Gaza that killed upwards of 1400 men, women and children, has illustrated that not only is this an entrenched operational framework but rarely has it been challenged until recently.
Rachel Corrie, the young American peace activist from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9-R bulldozer, as she and other members of the nonviolent International Solidarity Movement attempted to protect a Palestinian home from imminent demolition on March 16, 2003 in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Corrie has since become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity as her family continues to fight for justice in her name.
Her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, filed a civil lawsuit against the State of Israel for Rachel's unlawful killing -- what they allege was an intentional act -- and this round of testimonies called by the State's defense team follows the Corries' witness testimonies last March. The Corries' lawsuit charges the State with recklessness and a failure to take appropriate measures to protect human life, actions that violate both Israeli and international laws.
Witnesses insisted that the bulldozer driver couldn't see Rachel Corrie from his perch. The State attorneys called three witnesses to the stand on Sunday and Monday to prove that the killing was unintentional and took place in an area designated as a "closed military zone." Falling under the definition of an Act of War, their argument sought to absolve the soldiers of liability under Israeli law. The Rachel Corrie trials focus on one incident, one moment, one death, one family's grief. However it's important to include the context within which the Israeli military operated on that day in March of 2003 in order to properly understand the gravity of the trial and the reverberations seven and a half years later.
Yossi, the military training leader, described the area where Corrie was killed as an "active war zone." The State's defense argues the same. Yet what was happening in Rafah that was so important to Corrie that she confronted a 4-meter high armored bulldozer in the first place?
According to statistics from Human Rights Watch, Israel had been expanding its so-called "buffer zone" at the southern Gaza border after the breakout of the second Palestinian intifada in late 2000. "By late 2002," reports HRW, "after the destruction of several hundred houses in Rafah, the IDF began building an eight meter high metal wall along the border."
The area that Israel designates as its buffer zone has since enveloped nearly 35% of agricultural land, according to an August 2010 report published by the United Nation's Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA says that this policy has affected 113,000 Palestinians inside the Gaza strip over the last ten years as their farms, homes, and villages were intentionally erased from the map.
Rachel Corrie's nonviolent action -- standing in front of the bulldozer in direct confrontation to this project -- cost her her life.
The home Rachel Corrie died trying to protect was razed, along with hundreds of others. The Gaza Strip remains a sealed ghetto. And countless Palestinian families have not seen justice waged in their favor after the deaths of their loved ones.
In 2005, an arrest warrant was issued against Major General Doron Almog -- a senior soldier in charge of Israel's Southern Command -- by a British court related to the destruction of 59 homes in Rafah in 2002 under his authority. He was warned before boarding a flight to the UK that he could be arrested upon arrival, and canceled his trip.
Related to the Rachel Corrie case, Maj. Almog gave a direct order to the team of internal investigators to cut the investigations short, according to Israeli army documents obtained by Israeli daily Haaretz.
This indicates that the impunity of Israeli soldiers and policy-makers can -- and will -- be challenged in a court of law. And when the trials continue next month, the Corries will be back in the courtroom in anticipation of a long-sought justice for their daughter.
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75 Comments so far
Show AllAnother civilian caught in the "war" (read "ethnic cleansing operation"):
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/tovej.html
During war there are no civilians??? OK, lets talk about the holocaust (tm) for a moment shall we? Or maybe this man.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=11580723
Yup - the hounding of this guy around the world is covered in all its detail by ABC news - Funny how I recall all the media sensationalism about "Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka" but I never knew that he haD been exonerated - the coverage was near zero. Does ABC news have anything about this Corrie lawsuit?
Yup, but wait for someone to call you "anti-semitic" for pointing out these facts.
It doesn't matter whether or not these people are Jewish. It does matter if they are zionists.
q
It does matter that all the antisemitism on this board gets nothing but nodding heads in response.
I've posted nothing antisemitic but you sir/madam are a zionist or at least an apologist for same. As I asked previously, how much are you being paid for the hasbara screed?
Thank you!
My "thank you" is for the comment that identifies Zionism as the problem - rather than Jewish-ness. This is the crux of the matter - the very signficant difference that makes one statement antisemetic and another that is not. Semantics DO matter.
It's a damn good reason to stop all wars. Since when did humans stop wanting to be ruled by laws that even a president or a prime minister can't break? Do Israeli leaders ever listen to themselves?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention
[...]
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone, and outlaws the practice of total war. There are currently 194 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this fourth treaty but also including the other three.[1]
[...]
http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/civilian_population?OpenDocument
Protecting civilians in wartime
Section on the ICRC's work to ensure that civilians not taking part in the fighting are spared and protected, and not attacked. Covers action for especially vulnerable groups (the elderly, women and children). Access to legal texts on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
[...]
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/NORM/35D52356F487FC85C1256402003F9563?OpenDocument
Reservation / Declaration text
Reservation made upon signature and maintained upon ratification:
Mr KAHANY, Delegate of Israel to the European Office of the United Nations and to the International Committee of the Red Cross, made the following declaration:
"In accordance with instructions received from my Government, I shall sign the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War without any reservation. But in the case of each of the other three Conventions, our signature will be given with reservations the purport of which is as follows:
[...]
Just for the record:
http://www.adl.org/israel/israel_geneva.asp
and
http://www.legal500.com/c/portugal/developments/6581
I did not know they have kangaroos in Israel. Tony
This can be seen in context of a broader push to redefine international law as established at the end of WWII. This has been a project of Israel-US-Britain, clearly visible since 9/11. It is based on assertion rather than legal precedent.
George Bisharat covered this in an article called "Israel:Transforming International Law By Violating It", published in the San Francisco Chronicle April 2009. Here is an important quote from that article:
Israel's campaign to rewrite international law to its advantage is deliberate and knowing. As the former head of Israel's 20-lawyer International Law Division in the Military Advocate General's office, Daniel Reisner, recently stated: "If you do something for long enough, the world will accept it. The whole of international law is now based on the notion that an act that is forbidden today becomes permissible if executed by enough countries ... International law progresses through violations. We invented the targeted assassination thesis and we had to push it. At first there were protrusions that made it hard to insert easily into the legal molds. Eight years later, it is in the center of the bounds of legitimacy."
The article can be read here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/01-6
Excellent post! Thanks. While international law, historically, was largely developed by what nations did and didn't do, contemporary international law has blossomed through what nations have agreed to do. Rogue states such as the U.S. and Israel would like things otherwise -- perpetual international anarchy where international law is a mere description of what happens. But regardless of such wishes, once a nation signs onto a treaty, violation of that treaty is a breach of international law. Domestic law might have things otherwise (e.g., where violation of a treaty has no domestic consequences), but international law is fairly straightforward in holding nations to what they themselves have agreed to do. Amazing how something so clear can be so muddied (given enough lawyers and academics). Here, the Geneva Convention is clear about avoiding civilian casualties. Israel's argument is akin to saying murder is legal because the murder rate is rising.
Today in Jerusalem on this Rosh Hashanah–according to PNN (see http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1--Taysir Hayb, an Israeli soldier that was convicted of killing Tom Hurndall, a British photo journalist and activist, was released from jail.
So easy for forgive one's self.
Braden, of BradenA@seattlerep.org has told us that the DPS is in the process of securing the distribution rights for US productions, but that he had a special arrangement through the Royal Court and the Corrie family. I wonder who could help us to stage _My Name is Rachel Corrie_ in more locations around the U.S.
The clash of ideas over the Freedom Flotilla came about because some of us believe with Greta Berlin and Mairead Corrigan-Maguire that Gazans, regardless of the majority voting a few years ago for Hamas, deserve to have their human needs met.
It is a vicious lie to say, "By attempting to run a military blockade with ships loaded with military supplies they earned the response they got." The ships were not loaded with military supplies or soldiers. Fearful insanity it is to believe without any evidence that the ships were loaded with weapons for Hamas.
Trees planted along the Avenue of the Righteous, names engraved on the walls of the Garden of the Righteous all droop today. The noblest principles of humanity have fled Israel. There is no righteousness left.
Jews everywhere must say Kaddish for these humanitarian people at their Shabbat services this coming weekend.
"Gazans, regardless of the majority voting a few years ago for Hamas, deserve to have their human needs met..."
I see. So even though they voted for the only Palestinian political and military organizaton defending the Palestinian People's interests, the so-called "terrorist" Hamas, we will be nice and give them some charity.
If Israel could keep it down to a simple 'eye for an eye' the reduction in death and destruction would be immense.
Look at the numbers: it's a bit lopsided. If it were an eye for an eye, then there would be Israelis lined up for blocks to be butchered. And there is the matter of the Land of Palestine which the Zionists stole.
Yeah, we'd all be happy if Israel launched a few thousand rockets at Gaza and the West Bank. You're brilliant. It will also be great if the racist speech from Israel rose to that of the Muslim press and Hamas. Awesome idea!
Go away....
So when the Israelis complain when Hamas sends rockets into occupied territories and kills Israeli citizens, the whole world can ignore them - safe in the assurance from the Israelis themselves that there are no civilians in this dispute.
And exactly how many Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets compared to Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli guns, tanks, missiles, rockets, phosphorous, snipers,....? Any civilian death is a tragedy, but please do not try to put the numbers of Israeli civilian deaths on par with Palestinian civilian deaths. The struggle is incredibly lopsided in favor of the Israelis. They hold all the cards and make up the rules as they go along with the misguided complicity of the US Government so don't start playing violins for the Israelis. They cry for the Holocaust the Nazis brought down on them during WWII but now they have created one of their own.
I know, it would all be so much better if more Jews were killed. Thank you for pointing that out. Kill the Jews? Nice message. Never heard it before. Very original.
having fun? have you anything factual to contribute mr./ms. hasbara?
All right kids...lets agree on the "rules of war" and we can all play "fair" by the same rules. That way there are no surprises. We will define the antagonists & adversaries, and collateral damage will be assessed at a specific rate per casualty and fines levied in an appropriate manner, which could have an influence on the final outcome ! So SHAKE HANDS go to your respective corners and come out killing ! Lets root for the side of your choice, donations & investments can be made as is appropriate. Neutral observers and investors can claim the "undecidability clause" and invest in both sides at once. There will be a continual elimination process through this global competitions course that will enable the winner to "take all"... My bets are on the neutral observers...always standing to profit no matter the winner. "A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth." -Einstein
"During War there are no civilians," means ALL soldiers are TERRORISTS and WAR CRIMINALS.
Excellent conclusion. That is exactly the truth at this time in our world.
Armies of this world are harboring terrorists and war criminals. They are a minority group of humans and they have weapons.
It is time to build a stadium for these war criminals so they can kill and injure each other.
I love it when progressives call for people to kill each other.
It really may be belaboring the point to "rake up" still another horrific tale of IDF brutality, but this one broadcast on "Democracy Now" in 2009 is a heartbreaker:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/21/palestinian_us_college_grad_loses_2
Amer Shurrab is a Palestinian from Khan Yunis and a recent graduate of Vermont’s Middlebury College. On Friday, his father and two brothers were fleeing their village when their vehicle came under Israeli fire. Twenty-eight-year-old Kassab died in a hail of bullets trying to flee the vehicle. Eighteen-year-old Ibrahim survived the initial attack, but Israeli troops refused to allow an ambulance to reach them until twenty hours later. By then, it was too late. Ibrahim had bled to death in front of his father. Amer joins us to tell his story.
___________________________
In this case, it's absolutely clear that the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were innocents simply trying to escape a "hot zone"; they hadn't done anything wrong or even suspicious, and presented no threat-- unless one counts "Driving While Palestinian".
It's likewise clear that the Israeli authorities deliberately stalled and diddled around to ensure that the badly wounded 18 year old kid wouldn't get the timely medical care that could have saved his life. This bespeaks either wanton, conscious malice or force of malicious habit. Sad and diabolical.
"During War there are no civilians"...a perfect justification of the Palistinian rocket attacks against Israel
The Geneva Conventions says there are civilians, especially in wartime. After the barbarism of WWII, which Israelis understand better than most, the US led the way to insure that never again would nations sink to the depths of depravity the world had just experienced.
If the signatories do not enforce the conventions and in the case of the US, ignore them, then all is lost.
This trial should be happening the Hague.
The Zionists are frightening monsters. They, more than anyone, should know about the depths of human depravity and should have learned the lessons of love and compassion. Instead, they view Arabs as insect pests to be eradicated like roaches. That attitude was picked up from somewhere--I wonder where? There is much in Judaism that is wise and compassionate, but there are strands that foster arrogance and cruelty. Of course, most Zionists are not very religious. But over the years Zionism has spread throughout Jewish culture and religion. The leaders of Israel, and those in the military, are so arrogant they don't even see how ridiculous most of what they say is. They wonder why the world can't sympathize with them. After all, weren't they the victims of the holocaust? As a homosexual, I have news for them: they weren't the only ones. As for there not being any civilians in wartime, if that is true then it goes for all the Jews murdered by suicide bombers.
...and during a civilization, there's no war.
'During twar , there are no civilians.."but israel, you are always at war with your neighbors, even those in International waters, even those of the USS Liberty; I must conclude, Israel, that to you, the entire world is collateral damage.
Amd what of Mr. Almog, "cut the investigation short.." ah, because the truth would show Rachel Corries' life was cut short. too
Almog, doesn't that mean "the magician?" Sophia, the Wisdom, stands before us all, and yet we see the "magician" at work, while Wisdom is ignored.
Rachel Corrie will always be the Anne Frank of the new world for me. Anne was wisdom, and so is Rachel.
From Anne; " In the long run, the strongest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.."
and
"Look at how a single candle can defy and define the darkness.."
The words of Anne Frank are the acts and hopes made real through Rachel Corrie.
We will never forget either the words or the actions of 2 girls , who if a God had any chosen people, it would be them.***
Stardust: there is no sense in me posting as you have eloquently said it all. Thanks, Paul
Perhaps the Israelis could encourage tourism by giving out maps of areas where tourists are considered combatants. You wouldn't want to call those areas red zones as they might be confused with red light districts and attract tourists (esp. evangelicals). Best to just mark them as kill zones.
A one state solution is a Zionist dream, with Israel controlling the State. A two state solution is the only way the Palestinians will receive justice. By the unflinching support of the State of Israel, the United States is responsible as well.
When are we all going to realize that governments, all governments , pay lip service to the value of human life? Most governments were organized for only two purposes, taxing the populace and making war.
Rest in peace, Rachel Corrie.
It's a tragedy that a people who suffered genocide have convinced themselves that the best policy is to follow the example of their murderers. The state of Israel is a racist colonial settler state bent on pursuing fascism both militarily and politically. The only hope for peace is the end of Israel as a Zionist entity and a one state solution with equal rights for all. Israel is not a democracy as it always has the same clique of "war heros" in charge. More like an organized crime cartel than anything else.
--
I have to say that this comment was a bit much. The Israelis have been attacked several times, including by Saddam Hussein. If they're paranoid, well, they don't have thousands of miles of territory as the US has. They actually are a democracy, but one caught up in a destructive region of the world. Their mindset is closer to America of 200 years ago, than of today.
Redjeffery’s comment seems a little strong on first reading. But if you think about it, ethnic cleansing and mass murder are crimes against humanity, so in that respect I guess his comparison of the Zionist regime to an organized crime cartel is apt.
You say the Israelis are “caught up in a destructive part of the world.” The Zionists are the ones doing almost all the destroying and have no business there in the first place.
You’re right that the Zionist mindset is closer to America of 200 years ago. The difference is that Israel has a large nuclear arsenal and the Middle East is densely populated with Muslims hostile to Israeli land-grabs.
Our government’s continual interventions in support of Israeli aggression could at any time ensnare us in an unwinnable regional war, or even a nuclear holocaust.
Rachel Corrie understood that remaining neutral in such a conflict is to take the side of the aggressor.
More of the "poor little Israel" whine. The Israelis are not "caught up" in anything. The "destructive" nature of that part of the world is primarily due to zionist interloping.
The attacking was started and sustained by the zionists.
Whatever territory Israel has was stolen from the Palestinian inhabitants.
The Israeli mindset is much closer to that of NAZI Germany than to that of any other nation at any other time.
q
Jesuits assured Canadian settlers two hundred years ago that it was alright to exterminate Behotuck Indians in Newfoundland because they didn't have souls so they were not actually fully human. Jewish Rabbis today reasure Israeli youngsters that only Jews have Divine Souls, therefore killing a Jew is a far more of a loss to the world than killing anyone else. The lunatic fringe of the Christian faith these days will tell you right to your face that if you haven't taken Jesus into your heart as your personal savior and had your original sin washed away in the blood of the lamb you are not saved. Just about forgot, a Muslim guy told me that Muslims are allowed to marry Jews or Christians because they are all decendants of Abraham, but not Hindus or any other kind of heathen. The insanity just goes on and on.
Any way to get rid of all those invisible sky people?
It is about nationalism and power, not the invisible sky poeple. Get rid of the sky people and they would simply find another orgainzing principle ("free enterprise" works well) to do their dirty deeds.
Ragdoll
The whole notion of a "war" is fake when only one side "legitimately" has an army with a field manual no less, much of it courtesy of the US taxpayers.
The whole notion of negotiating a peace treaty is just as fake. The Palestinians are not "at war" with Israel. Israel has stolen land and water in the West Bank to which it has no legitimate claim under international law and should give it all back, period.
Imagine a thief with a bag full of jewelry exiting a jewelry store. And the cops "negotiating" how much of the take the thief can keep?
During wars there are no innocent bystanders and the robbery and rape of civilians is just soldier's pay!
We give Israel $3 billion a year so it can do the killing in our War on Palestine. And to get all those legalized killers in the right frame of mind, so they kill in the name of God and country, we brainwash young men into thinking a beautiful and single young lady needs to die instantly as she is a solder dressed in civies.
Song for Rachel Corrie, first song on playlist, other songs are also political.
http://www.myspace.com/blmcguire
"During War there are no civilians,"
Does this mean that every child, every elderly person, every woman, every single person killed in the German and Polish concentration camps and ghettos were 'soldiers'?
Does this mean that there was no holocaust, and that we can stop being worried about being called 'Anti-Semite', or worried that we might find ourselves guilty of heresy by using Israel's own rationale ("During War there are no civilians,") for denying that the holocaust ever happened?
I rather doubt it. And we KNOW that there was a holocaust (or three) during WWII - as well as many others before and since, perpetrated by other nations. But we'll see what U.S./U.K./Israel's lawyers manage to pull out of their.... bags. I for one and finished being worried about pissing off the Zionists. I should say that I'm not worried about their feelings, although I do worry about them the same way I'd worry about pissing off the SS or the Gestapo, or a Mafia crime gang.