Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes
BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7471.924 (Published 14 October 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:924All rapid responses
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I asked Dr Summerfield for a reference to his original allegation
that IDF soldiers have been "routinely authorised" to shoot children.
In his response he puts words in my mouth and proceeds to answer a
question I did not put. I do not deny that Palestinian children have, very
sadly, been shot, by IDF soldiers. He has however not justified his
allegation of conspiracy by the IDF. He should now withdraw that
allegation and apologise for making it.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I would like to commend Mr Summerfield for his honesty. I admire your
courage in standing up to this massive and gross abuse of human rights
that has been continuing unabated since the first days of the Intifada.
I urge you to take the disdainful responses you have received as an
indicator that your remarks were well placed. Equally vindictive and
spiteful responses have been made to other activists such as yourself
including the most recent special rapporteur to the occupied Territories
whose report I would encourage you to read.
I am a student of human Rights law and am currently completing an
assignment on the Right to Education in the Occupied Territories. With
every claim that the cycle of violence is growing ever larger with
increasing acts of wanton violence The Israelis riposte is the same: that
we are providing a justification for terroriists. This is clearly not what
we are trying to do as is evidenced in the dictionary defined definitions
of 'justification' and root 'cause'. I do not suggest here that the
Terrorists are in anyway justified in their acts against Israeli
civilians, but the violent abuses carried out by the IDF against all of
the Civil political, and social and cultural rights of the palestinian
cannot be ignored. The Idf imposes curfews in which palestinian
civilians(not settlers) are obliged to remain inside during prolonged
periods of time. In Hebron the curfew remained in place for over seven
months in 2000. UN schools have been shot at, children attacked with tear
gas. Education essentially became illegal during the first intifada (in
contradiction to the claims made on the Israeli government website)when
makeup classes were forced to go underground and unrwa schools were
prohibited from handing out home study materials to students. how can this
be justified as a security measure. THE Israeli army also continues to
place the same restrictive measures imposed on young adults on children of
6-7 years of age. This again belies the falsity of the Israeli argument.
By condemning the Israeli government you are taking a stand. I really
admire you for your bravery as many people including the Us governemtn and
the EU lack the courage to stand up to the Israeli violations of almost
every codified norm of International law. What they are doing in the
Occupied territories is morally wrong. There is no other way of putting
it. In addition the occupation has its profound effect on Israeli society
poisoning its youth in a military culture where the value of Israeli live
is meaningless. ( in an interview with HA'artz, an IDF sniper revealed
that IDF policy santiones the killing of children 'over the age of 12'.
Do not let the hate mails divert you from your task, justice.
yours etc
Emma Lyons
Irish Centre for Human Rights
Galway
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Barry Hoffbrand asks me to justify my conclusion about the entirely
routine killing of Palestinian children. I stand by this conclusion, as
have many respondents to bmj.com (which included at least 3 who recorded
that they had personally witnessed Israeli soldiers deliberately shooting
at Palestinian children in situations where those children could not
possibly have posed a credible threat). I have added further material on
this question at some length in my own rapid responses at bmj.com (to my
paper of Oct 16)dated 21 Oct and 26 Oct,and in rapid responses dated 11
Nov and 15 Nov ( to the riposte by Fellerman in the BMJ of 6 Nov).I would
ask Hoffbrand to please turn to these.
However I would take this opportunity to point to continuing
shootings of this kind. Consider, for example, material from the Israeli
journalist Gideon Levy in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on 2 December. In
an article entitled "Twilight zone/suffer the little children",he gives 3
recent examples from Nablus.He starts by saying "why waste ammunition?" in
describing how a few days ago an Israeli soldier fired at 2 boys aged 15
years who were standing with their arms around each other on the street
that descends to the market place. A lone bullet traversed both bodies,
and both boys died.
Levy goes on: "Nablus is mourning its children.Those among us-
including the chief of staff- who were so horrified by the affair of the "
confirmed killing" of 13 year old Iman al-Hamas in the Rafah refugee camp
can have the same reaction 323 times over, one for each of the 323
children under the age of 14 years, according to the statistics of the
Palestinian human rights monitoring group, who were killed in this
intifada by IDF fire. Anyone who thought that the case of Iman al-Hamas
was exceptional should know that killing children is a routine matter,
without commissions of enquiry, without public interest. Nablus alone has
buried 29 children".
Levy goes on to give other examples, one being the killing of 9 year
old Khaled Osta. A neighbour witnessed what happened through the window of
her home when IDF soldiers approached in a jeep whilst about 20 children
were playing in the alley outside. She rushed to call her children to come
inside for safety. She said she saw 2 soldiers get out of the jeep and
throw tear gas and a stun grenade at the group of children. Khaled was
eating a sandwich that his mother had made for him, one can still see the
remains of it in the photo of his death. The soldier was standing in the
street above, the children in the alley below.The chance that the children
would throw stones up at the street from below on such a steep incline-
the street is much higher than the alley-do not seem likely. The neighbour
ran out and followed a trail of blood until she saw Khaled bleeding at the
entrance to his house.The child had managed to traverse the 20 metres that
separated the place where he was injured from his home,till he collapsed
at the entrance. The neighbour called the members of his family to come
out, and Khaled's mother and sister rushed to the horrifying scene. At the
same time Khaled's father was standing on the street above, prevented from
approaching.
As I noted in a previous rapid response, the statistics on child
killings monitored by Israeli human rights organisations like B'Tselem and
Physicians for Human Rights Israel are very similar to those coming from
Palestinian sources.
Can Barry Hoffbrand and the other respondents dismissive of my paper
bring themselves to confront data on child killings and on systematic
violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention on its own terms, however
painful the reflections thrown up on the values and modus operandi of the
Israel government and military? Many Israelis, not least Gideon Levy, and
many Jewish respondents to bmj.com, have done so, but it seems that the
majority simply cannot do this and choose instead to maintain a selective
moral blindness.In this they are in a kind of collusion with the events
above, I am afraid. So too is the World Medical Association, and
influential member organisations like the British Medical Association-
whose ethical arm under Dr Vivienne Nathanson is fearless, yes fearless,
on issues like confidentiality or passive smoking, but on this looks the
other way. So much for the doctor's duty to speak out that the BMA lauds!
What we have here are war crimes and sooner or later,perhaps in the
International Criminal Court,they will have to be accounted for.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
The letter by Dr Tom Marshall cites the works of Shlaim and Morris as
correctives to Profesor Dershowitz. Dr Marshall needs correcting himself.
I suggest that he read Efraim Karsh's excellent Fabricating Israeli
History to see just how dishonest and inspired by anti-Israeli sentiment
the works by these writers he commends really are. As a historian, I
couldn't recommend the methods by which they produce their 'research'.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I would be grateful to Dr Summerfield for his reference to the
authorisation to which he refers in his statement "Clearly soldiers are
routinely authorised to kill children in situations of minimal or no
threat"
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I am amazed by the ignorance of this article, and
being allowed to be printed. It disgraces your
reputation beyond words. I intentionally went and
lived among the Palestinian and then among the Jew. I
am not important in the news realm, that they should
try to win me to their side as I have seen this done
to reporters. I have good friends on both sides of
this issue who truly want peace. You do both of them
an injustice by false statements. The people killed on
the Palestinian side are mostly terrorist's who have
killed themselves and others along side. They are
being used by an agenda to rid Israel of the Jew, and
killing is okay if that is what they want to do. They
should not be rewarded by being considered or
presented as victims of Israel's efforts to protect
and stop those who attempt bombing or arms smuggling,
etc. Some Palestinian are peaceful, and want to work
at peace. But, they can not voice that, for fear of
being killed. It is a shame that good Arab
Palestinian families are forced to live in this, by
their own kind who choose to live in violence. Now
that is the injustice. Many are forced to live in fear
by their own kind. Have you ever watched as a child's
mind is stolen, his childhood being stolen from him by
the poison of hate. Then one day their body can be
taken also, and used as a bomb to bring that hate to
the point of killing anyone.
By your statements you promote anger, ignorance, and
become a part of the problem, instead of a solution.
Shame on you for using a medical journal for such.
I live in the United States, and have done
humanitarian work(medical, food, clothing), with many
people in other countries. We need to help, and
promote goodness, not add to their problems.
Thank you...for hearing me out, please correct this
reporting error. The medical field can not allow this
type of comment in a respected medical journal.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Thank you for your article, which summarises the awful situation
for the Palestinians in a factual way. I recognise that many Israelis
are living in fear of the suicide bombers but it is time for all Israelis
to ask why this unacceptable activity is happening, as some brave
NGO (Non Governmental Organisations) Israeli groups are doing,
including Rabbis for Human Rights. I heard Arik Ascherman of that
group express his condemnation of violence on both sides whilst
acknowledging that there is not parity. It is the Israelis who have
vastly superior fire power.
It seems as soon as the 'magic' word security is mentioned
everything becomes acceptable.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Dr Summerfield for
his courage to write this article as the response was preditable and
expected, I believe even by him.
Secondly, I would like to commend the courage of the editors of the
BMJ for publishing Dr. Summerfield's article and I say to them the truth
will always see the day of light therefore, this time they were
instrumental to uncovering the injustice of suffering and oppressed
people. I implore the BMJ editors not to be afraid in the future to
highlight the plight of any oppressed people despite the pressure to look
the other way. The Truth will always stands out from falsehood, no matter
how powerful the supporters of falsehood are.
To all those, whose response is suggestive that this article should
have been silenced, by extension hiding the truth, I say to them; that,
one day, the oppression they gladly support will touch them in one form or
another, therefore, I call upon them to suppport justice as it is justice
that will eventually bring peace to all.
Thank you.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Just like to congratulate you on the article about Plaestine. It
highlights the suffering of the civilian population at the hands of the
israeli defence force. Many people- as you have mentioned- would avoid
reporting on this issue, due to the faer of being labelled as 'anti
semetic'- which is of course pathetic- there are many jews who support the
Palestinian view of a homeland.
Well done
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
No peace without international justice
Iman al-Hams was a 13-year-old refugee schoolgirl who was executed –
after being wounded – by an Israeli platoon commander on the sad sands of
Rafah. She died on 5 October 2004. The killing of Iman al-Hams was a crime
against humanity. Israel must surrender the criminal. It is imperative
that her death is avenged through a proper system of justice at the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
Derek Summerfield is right (9 December) that sooner or later, crimes
such as this will have to be accounted for. However, he is right to be
cautious about the ability of the ICC to deliver justice for Iman al-Hams.
Neither Israel nor the US have ratified the Rome Statute, the ICC’s
founding treaty. The international community adopted the Rome Statute on
17 July 1998 at a UN sponsored conference involving the representatives of
160 countries. Article 125 called for the Statute to remain open for
signature at the United Nations headquarters until 31 December 2000. On 31
December 2000, the US, Iran and Israel were the last to sign the Rome
Statute. On 6 May 2002, the Bush administration announced in a foreign
policy address and letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it did
not recognise the US’ signature of the Rome Statute, (which occurred
during the Clinton presidency) and had no intention to become party to the
Statute. Despite the actions of the US, the Court was finally established
in accordance with the Rome Statute on 1 July 2002.
Both Israel and the US have given reasons for voting against the
treaty. Israel stated that it failed to comprehend why the act of
transferring populations into an occupied territory was included in the
list of war crimes. The principal objection of the United States was over
the application of the Court’s jurisdiction to non-States Parties. The US
also stated that the statute must recognise the role of the Security
Council in determining an act of aggression. The US however, recognises
the power of its Security Council veto in the determination of what
constitutes an act of aggression and by whom. Although not stated
publicly, America also objects to the inability of the ICC to impose a
death penalty. The lack of competence in this area is of course consistent
with international human rights standards.
The Rome Statute recognises the role of the Security Council in the
maintenance of international peace and security. Specifically, the treaty
notes that under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council may
refer a “situation” to the Court when one or more crimes covered by the
Statute appear to have been committed. This would provide a basis for the
Prosecutor to initiate an investigation. The killing of Iman al-Hams is
such a “situation” and is clearly a crime that could be investigated by
the Prosecutor at the ICC. The killer must be delivered to The Hague.
However, the US recognises the power of the veto within the Security
Council and routinely uses it to block censure of Israel. In essence, the
US authorises the crime against humanity in Israel. Israeli armed forces
act with utter impunity. Israel is incapable of delivering justice
consistent with international human rights standards. There will be no
peace without justice in the Middle East.
Competing interests:
abhor the abuse of power in all its guises
Competing interests: No competing interests