Complicity in Israeli War Crimes

Actions and measures taken by the European Union in regard to Israel's practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are not consistent with Europe's human rights position.

Under a European-brokered deal thirteen Palestinians are due to be deported to third countries in Europe. This deportation violates both provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as the protections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The thirteen Palestinians left Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity on Friday, May 10, after a five-week Israel siege of one of Christianity's holiest shrines. They boarded a bus that took them to Ben Gurion airport from where a British military aircraft is due to fly them to Cyprus from which they later will be deported to third countries in Europe and perhaps Canada.

Earlier this week an Italian Foreign Ministry official said that besides Italy, other countries that could take some of the Palestinians were Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, Ireland and perhaps even Canada.

Another 26 Palestinians who were in the Church have been transferred to the Gaza Strip. The other 84 civilians, including who have been besieged inside the church are said to be freed. All persons inside the church have been besieged by Israeli forces for five weeks, with food and water supplies in short supply.

Israel has no legal right to seek the deportation of the thirteen Palestinians and the forcible transfer of the 26 Palestinians to the Gaza Strip. The Occupied Palestinian Territories are not part of Israel's sovereign territories but are being controlled by Israel under its on going illegal occupation.

The European Union should have condemned the tactics used by the Israeli army, including denial of food and water to those placed under siege in the Church of the Nativity. From a human rights perspective, it is unacceptable to force an unlawful 'agreement' with Israeli, PLO and representatives of the European Union, and coerce the deportees and transferees to leave Bethlehem. There is no valid agreement under such circumstances of duress and coercion.

Any such agreement is unlawful as it violates the provisions of articles 49 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibiting unlawful transfers and deportations of protected persons. Under article 147, any such transfers and deportations amount to a grave breach, namely war crimes.

Moreover, they violate the protections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, guaranteeing rights to a fair trial, rights against arbitrarily depriving entering one's own country, right to respect for private and family life (violated as they are forced to live apart from their family members, rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom of expression (as they are also being transferred or deported due to their political affiliations and activities), and the right to enjoyment of fundamental rights free from discrimination.

Under article 13 of the ICCPR even where a country has sovereign control over a territory, which Israel does not, it cannot expel an alien lawfully in that territory, without reaching a decision in accordance with the law and before a competent authority. There has been no such process.

The European Union is effectively aiding and abetting Israel's perpetration of such grave breaches of Fourth Geneva Convention by facilitating the forcible, unlawful transfers and deportations of Palestinians from Bethlehem. If they had been involved in any criminal activity the legal avenue would have been for them to be tried under internationally recognized standards of a fair trial and before a competent authority in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, rather than such deportations and transfers.

These forcible transfers and deportations should be seen in the wider context of systematic ethnic cleansing methods used by Israel, including uprooting of the civilian population by military attacks, destruction of homes, property and agricultural land for the purposes of confiscation for settlement building, punitive controls of the economy, business and destruction of key civilian infrastructure, forcible removal from areas including forced expulsions from homes and land, and other methods designed to make life so difficult that Palestinians leave.

It should be noted that Israeli military and political officials have called for the mass transfer of all Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. Tourism Minister Binyamin Elon was quoted on 18 December 2001 as stating that "if the Palestinians continue their violence against Israel and are defeated, they will ultimately be expelled from their homes'.

Public surveys in Israel reveal that a significant part of the Israeli public support mass transfers of all Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Although the European Union, earlier this month, condemned Israel's violations of human rights and stated that 'Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian principles', including the conventions on the protection of civilians in times of war, and refrain from excessive use of force, no measures have been taken by the European Union that suggest that the Union is serious about its words.

The European Union allows Israel to violate its trade agreement with the Union, which includes a human rights clause as an essential element, even while Israel has wrought damage worth 14.5 million euros to projects funded by European taxpayers in the last year.

Moreover, the European Union has failed to impose an arms embargo against Israel, even while Israel does not comply with the criteria as put forward in the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports and while Israel has used European arms against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Today, to make matters worse, the European Union is effectively aiding and abetting Israel's perpetration of grave breaches of international humanitarian law by facilitating the forcible, unlawful transfers and deportations of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. It's time that Europeans demand the Union to live up to its declared human rights policy irrespective of the abusers.

The author works and lives in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and is public advocacy officer at LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights in East Jerusalem.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)