08 January 2009

Regarding those "human shields" in Gaza

Amnesty International is pointing out that BOTH Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters are using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
“Our sources in Gaza report that Israeli soldiers have entered and taken up positions in a number of Palestinian homes, forcing families to stay in a ground floor room while they use the rest of their house as a military base and sniper position,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

The use of “human shields” in conflict is prohibited under Article 51(7) of the Geneva Conventions: "The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations."
It's obviously not possible to write anything about the war in Gaza without offending someone, but let me just take a moment to make my own position clear. In this post I'm not criticizing the Israeli soldiers; I'm trying to emphasize that although governments often claim that they have the "moral high ground," and that their armed forces are behaving decently, in actual fact the battlefield itself doesn't encourage (or reward) virtuous behavior.

The Geneva Conventions have a proper place in the planning and conduct of warfare, but when I hear them cited in the context of the heat of battle, I'm invariably reminded of Paul Newman's classic line in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - "Rules? In a knife fight?"

Personally, if I were being shot at on a battlefield, I would probably hide behind Mother Theresa. Except she's dead. I'd hide behind Britney Spears. But they'd probably shoot at her. You know what I mean.

Update: BBC reports that the Israeli Defense Ministry is opposed to a ban on the use of Palestinians as human shields:
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is prepared to make a personal appearance in court to defend the practice, ministry officials added.

The Israeli military believes that the use of Palestinian civilians can often defuse a tense situation.

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