New report puts Israel firmly in the dock

In conflict there is no surprise in being criticised by opposition forces, but being slammed by your own kind can come as a shock.
That’s what exactly what has just happened in Israel, where a rights group accuses the government of deliberate attacks on homes that killed hundreds of civilians during last year’s Gaza war.
The report, by B’Tselem, examined 70 raids on residential buildings during the 50-day conflict, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
“A hallmark of the fighting in Gaza this summer was the numerous [Israeli] strikes on residential buildings, destroying them while their occupants were still inside,” the 49-page report said. “This aspect of the fighting was particularly appalling [and was] the result of a policy formulated by government officials and the senior military command.”
About 20,000 homes, as well as the territory’s power station and other major infrastructure, came under Israeli attack.
Violations against civilians are bound to happen in modern warfare. The question is where one draws the line. In today’s internationally established rules of engagement and humanitarian principles, the key question is whether the killing of innocent civilians is accidental or a matter of policy.
“There is no question in our minds that this is not the outcome of a low-level decision, but rather a matter of policy, a policy that in some cases has violated international humanitarian law,” Al Jazeera has quoted B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad as saying.
The 50-day war also claimed the lives of 67 Israeli soldiers and five Israeli citizens.
The verdict is still out on whether the attacks on “civilian” targets in Gaza were guided by policy, or the outcome of snap decisions made at a lower level in the chain of command, in the heat of battle.
But what the attacks do illustrate clearly is that the rules of engagement of a previous age – when the warrior code of honour dictated that fighting occur only on the battlefield and civilians be kept well away – no longer apply. Modern warfare has shifted into towns and cities, making civilian casualties inevitable.
Nevertheless, scrutiny over possible rights violations in Gaza would be far less had the number of civilian deaths not been so high – or if the casualty count were less lopsided.
B’Tselem insists the Israeli government must divulge whether civilian homes in Gaza that also housed opposing forces were considered a legitimate military target, to be destroyed whatever the “collateral damage”.
Israel blames Gaza’s ruling Hamas organisation for starting the war by launching rockets into its territory. Hamas claims it was responding to a crackdown on its people in the West Bank by Israeli security officials, who were hunting for three missing Israeli teenagers. However, it was revealed that the Israeli authorities knew the three boys had been murdered soon after they were abducted. Many seized on that revelation as evidence that the crackdown and “rescue mission” were a pretext to stir up Israeli public sentiment against Hamas and thus justify the assault on Gaza.
And when that attack began, Israel’s attitude toward international law was to “stretch it as far as they can, way beyond the acceptable interpretation by international lawyers”, B’Tselem head of research Yael Stein said.
The report comes just weeks after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed the Rome Statute, paving the way for Palestine to join the International Criminal Court. It remains to be seen, however, whether this body can serve justice and whether Palestinian membership will represent a positive step forward.