from HRW:


IV. LEGAL STANDARDS

In any armed conflict the right of the parties to choose the methods and means of warfare is not unlimited. On the contrary, those choices are strictly regulated by the customs and provisions of the law of armed conflict, referred to here as international humanitarian law (IHL). 102 IHL also regulates cases of total or partial military occupation, as in the case of the Palestinian territories. Against this background, certain episodes of violence that rise to the level of armed conflict are governed by general principles of the laws of war. Some of the rules of IHL form part of international customary law, which are binding on all states and also on non-state actors-in this case, Palestinian armed groups.103

Many rules of IHL have been codified in international treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols. The Geneva Conventions have achieved widespread acceptance among states as authoritative standards of behavior for parties in situations of armed conflict, and have been ratified by more than 190 states.104 The 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions were negotiated at a diplomatic conference where representatives from non-state armed groups campaigning for national self-determination were also present, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Many of the provisions are recognized as customary international law.

Obligations of the Palestinian Authority and Armed Palestinian Groups

The rules and obligations of IHL are clearest when applied to conflict between sovereign states. The responsibilities of non-state actors may differ from those of sovereign states, but non-state actors, too, have clear responsibilities under IHL. Many customary rules of IHL apply to all parties to a conflict, including non-state actors, provided that the confrontation is of an intensity that places it beyond the threshold of a mere disturbance.

Although it is not a sovereign state, the Palestinian Authority has explicit security and legal obligations set out in the Oslo Accords...

Crimes Against Humanity

The scale and systematic nature of the attacks on civilians detailed in this report meets the definition of a crime against humanity. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for suicide bombing attacks on civilians since 1994, and such attacks clearly represent organizational policy at the highest levels. Since January 2002, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and the PFLP have also claimed responsibility for organizing and carrying out such attacks.

The notion of "crimes against humanity" refers to acts that, by their scale or nature, outrage the conscience of humankind. Crimes against humanity were first codified in the charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945. Since then, the concept has been incorporated into a number of international treaties, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although definitions of crimes against humanity differ slightly from treaty to treaty, all definitions provide that the deliberate, widespread, or systematic killing of civilians by an organization or government is a crime against humanity. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity may be committed in times of peace or in periods of unrest that do not rise to the level of an armed conflict.

The most recent definition of crimes against humanity is contained in the Rome Statute of the ICC, which entered into force on July 1, 2002. The statute defines crimes against humanity as the "participation in and knowledge of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population," and "the multiple commission of [such] acts...against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack." The statute's introduction defines "policy to commit such attack" to mean that the state or organization actively promoted or encouraged such attacks against a civilian population. The elements of the "crime against humanity of murder" require that (1) "the perpetrator killed one or more persons," (2) "[t]he conduct was committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population," and (3) "[t]he perpetrator knew that the conduct was part of, or intended the conduct to be part of, a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population."

Those who commit crimes against humanity, like war crimes, are held individually criminally responsible for their actions. Crimes against humanity give rise to universal jurisdiction, they do not admit the defense of following superior orders, and they do not benefit from statutes of limitation. International jurisprudence and standard setting of the last ten years have consolidated the view that those responsible for crimes against humanity and other serious violations of human rights should not be granted amnesty. As in the case of war crimes, all states are responsible for bringing those who commit crimes against humanity to justice.

The pattern of suicide bombing attacks against Israel civilians that emerged in 2001 and intensified during 2002 clearly meets the criteria of a crime against humanity.

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl....htm#TopOfPage

you can't get any clearer than that, can you?

War Crimes: The Prohibition Against Targeting Civilians

A fundamental rule of international humanitarian law is that civilians must enjoy general protection against danger arising from military operations. The rule of civilian immunity is one of "the oldest fundamental maxims" of international customary law, meaning that it is binding on all parties to a conflict, regardless of whether a conflict is international or non-international in character.

Non-state parties to a conflict are also obliged to respect the norms of customary international law. At all times, it is forbidden to direct attacks against civilians; indeed, to attack civilians intentionally while aware of their civilian status is a war crime. It is thus an imperative duty for an attacker to identify and distinguish non-combatants from combatants in every situation.

In addition to its status as established customary law, the principle of civilian immunity has been codified in numerous treaties. One of the clearest expressions of the principle is set out in article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which states:

• The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence, the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population, are prohibited.

By deliberately targeting civilians, suicide bombing attacks clearly violate this most fundamental rule of the laws of war. The prohibition against targeting civilians holds in all circumstances, including when a party undertakes such attacks in retaliation for attacks on its own civilians (discussed below).

The principle of distinction between civilian and military targets is enshrined in article 48 of Protocol I:

• In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants, and between civilian objects and military objectives, and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.

Military objectives are defined as "those objects, which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action." Under international humanitarian law, attacks that are not, or as a result of the method of attack cannot, be aimed at military targets, are considered "indiscriminate." They are prohibited under Protocol I and, under the same treaty, constitute war crimes. The protocol's provisions prohibiting indiscriminate warfare are considered to be norms of customary international law, binding on all parties in a conflict, regardless of whether it is an international or internal armed conflict.

That is, they are binding on all parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though Israel has not ratified Protocol I.

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The Kassams are indiscriminate and a war crime

where is our legal expert, ashley??

Well that proves that Israel practices War Crimes and crimes against humanity.

11 June 1998: The Israeli army issued an order allowing for the establishment of the so-called civil guards, or armed militia, in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. On the same day, the Israeli army issued another order granting the settlement "Ariel" the formal status of a city, implicitly indicating that it was no longer part of the occupied territory.

And that any squatter violence is a war crime and a crime against Humanity.

And squatters are legitimate military targets.

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (Geneva I) Aug 12, 1949 July 6, 1951

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea (Geneva II) Aug 12, 1949 July 6, 1951

Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Geneva III) Aug 12, 1949 July 6, 1951

Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Geneva IV) Aug 12, 1949 July 6, 1951

Israeli MFA

Who hasn't signed up for additional protocols 1? Israel, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iraq, what exalted company Israel keeps.

Who hasn't signed up for additional protocols 2? Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq. As they say known by the company they keep.

The Palestinians as a non-sovereign state cannot sign.

Israeli security forces continue uncovering terrorist networks and attack terrorist operatives in Judea and Samaria involved in planning attacks against Israeli targets.

Overview

1. The Israeli security forces and the IDF recently exposed a terrorist operative network and killed a number of senior terrorist operatives in Judea and Samaria . Important among them was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad network uncovered in the Bethlehem region whose operatives planned to plant a bomb on the railroad tracks between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Palestinian security services, which are working to enforce law and order, do not act effectively to dismantle the terrorist networks, which continue to present a genuine threat to Israel 's security.

Explosives laboratory exposed in the Bethlehem region 1

2. On December 17, 2007, the Israeli security forces and the IDF exposed an explosives laboratory in the village of Nahlin (west of Bethlehem ). It contained chemicals used in the manufacture of explosives and bombs.

3. The laboratory belonged to a squad of four PIJ operatives and was located in the home of one of them, Rizeq Muhammad Ahmed Jada , 28. Two lived in Nahlin and two in the village of Batir (west of Bethlehem ). During interrogation they said that they had downloaded instructions for manufacturing explosives from the Internet . They purchased the materials and tried to enlist financial support.

4. They confessed that they had planned to carry out a series of attacks against civilian and military targets in Israel , among them the following:

• 1) Plant a bomb on the railroad tracks between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem close to the village of Batir
  
  2) Use bombs to attack Israeli vehicles.
  
  3) Attack a security vehicle in the settlement of Beitar Illit.
  
  4) Attack an IDF jeep with both a bomb and hand grenades.

5. Following the information they provided, an explosive device weighing eight kilograms ( 17.6 lbs ) was found in the home of Aasem Muamar , another terrorist operative, hidden inside a fire extinguisher. In addition, 25 kilograms ( 55 lbs ) of potassium nitrate (used in the manufacture of explosives 2) were also found, as were a cellular detonator and CDs documenting the squad's attempts to manufacture bombs.

A senior PIJ terrorist operative killed in Qabatia

6. On January 16 the Israeli security forces operating in the town of Qabatia (south of Jenin) killed Walid Obeidi (Abu Al-Qassam), a senior operative of the Jerusalem Battalions, the PIJ's terrorist wing. Obeidi, 42, a resident of the village of Burqin , was responsible for planning and carrying out attacks against Israel . He was also behind suicide bombing attacks, including that attack in south Tel Aviv on April 17, 2006, which killed 9 people . 3

7. According to a posting on the PIJ Website, he had manufactured a large number of explosive devices “and had the honor of making hundreds of bombs which the Jerusalem Battalions detonated in the Jenin refugee camp over the past three years,” causing the “Israeli enemy” many casualties. He also reportedly opposed turning over his weapons in return for a pardon for himself and other operatives and preferred to remain a “jihad fighter” (Jerusalem Battalions Website, January 16).

8. Sources in the PIJ reacted harshly to his death. Ahmed al-Aarouri, a senior operative in the organization, said that the Palestinians “would settle the score with Israel ” and that the response to his death would be “painful.”

A senior Fatah-Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade operative killed in Nablus

9. Ahmed Sanakra , a senior Fatah-Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade operative, was killed during an Israeli security force operation in Nablus 's Balata refugee camp on January 18. Four terrorist operatives who were in his house at the time were detained.

Funeral of Ahmed Sanakra in Nablus
(Palestinian TV, January 1.

10. Ahmed Sanakra was involved in planning and carrying out many terrorist attacks. He specialized in making explosive belts . His brother, Alaa Sanakra , was one of the PIJ's senior operatives in Judea and Samaria and was pardoned in the “wanted terrorists agreement” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

11. Reacting to Sanakra's death, Fatah-Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade spokesmen threatened Israel with harsh reprisals in the heart of the country and said that “the arm of the resistance is free to react to aggression.” They also called upon the Palestinian to follow the path of “resistance” (terrorism and violence).

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/mal...ct_200108e.htm

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x0bU...watch_response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL0C2QvqIlo#
"The courageous over the infidels, make war for Allah and are not afraid... This is the depiction of the army of Allah that will come at Allah's decree, from here or from there, to liberate these lands from the defilement of the Jews, for Allah was angry with them in his book and called them once 'monkeys,' once 'swine,' and once 'donkeys.'" (Palestinian TV, March 30, 2001)

So you imply that Palestinians living in Palestine resisting Israeli aggression and somehow terrorists???????

Hasbara1 all Palestinians are allowed to build bombs to resist Israeli aggression. That act is not a terrorist activity. Unless of course you declare all arms manufacturing as a terrorist activity. In which case the Israeli arms Industry is then a terrorist organisation.

Railways are legitimate military targets. If they aren't then the Israeli IAF is a terrorist organisation for bombing road, rail and infrastructure targets.. So far Hasbara1 you only prove that Israeli government is a criminal enterprise.

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/07/x_11.php




http://english.aljazeera.net/English...rchiveId=24569

http://www.democracynow.org/2006/7/28/headlines

According to you Hasbara1 Israel is a terrorist state.

Well done Hasbara, it is nice to see you come in from the dark side!!!!!

Yes, with one caveat... The pretense of your question is contingent on my accepting the fact that the Palis are resisting Israeli aggression. I reject that.

I am of the opinion that it's quite the opposite.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

The number of strikes against the Israeli invader within the Borders of Palestine indicate that the Palestinian forces are a resistance force.