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Israel Urged to Change Occupation Tactics
By the New York Times
August 24, 2004
Jerusalem (AP) -- The attorney general urged Israel to consider adopting an international convention governing the treatment of occupied peoples and the Defense Ministry recommended an overhaul of checkpoints to reduce abuses against Palestinians.
The moves revealed Tuesday were new signs of increased Israeli sensitivity to international criticism, particularly in the aftermath of a world court ruling against its contentious West Bank separation barrier.
The International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, last month issued a scathing ruling against the barrier, declaring it a violation of international law and urging Israel to tear it down.
The ruling also went beyond the issue of the wall, including a sweeping condemnation of Israeli occupation polices in the West Bank.
Although the decision -- and a U.N. General Assembly resolution backing the ruling -- were nonbinding, the matter clearly has raised concerns in Israeli legal and political circles.
``In terms of general public opinion, world public opinion, it does have ramifications. That's why it's so ominous,'' conceded a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Shortly after the court decision, Attorney General Meni Mazuz appointed a team of legal experts to review the ruling and outline its ramifications.
In a report submitted to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Mazuz team recommended the government seriously consider adopting the Fourth Geneva Convention, officials said Tuesday.
The 1949 convention lays out the responsibilities of an occupying power in treating the local population. It is meant to protect occupied peoples from torture, humiliation and unnecessary harm and guarantee them access to education, health care and other services.
It also forbids occupying powers from ``transferring parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies'' -- a stipulation that could have negative implications for Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Since capturing the two territories in the 1967 Mideast War, Israel has refused to accept the Geneva Accord. Israel says the convention doesn't apply because Jordanian and Egyptian control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was never internationally recognized. Israel insists the dispute must be decided through negotiations with the Palestinians.
The Israeli official said the country would not change this position. He said that Israel already takes ``great care'' not to infringe on the rights of the Palestinians. Israel's ``overriding concern'' is the right to defend itself, he added.
Israel says it is building its separation barrier to prevent suicide bombers from reaching its towns and villages.
The Palestinians say the structure, which stretches deep into the West Bank, is an illegal seizure of their land. The 425-mile barrier, which is about one-quarter complete, has separated Palestinians from farmland, jobs, schools and hospitals.
Israel's Supreme Court has also criticized the barrier, saying its route should be modified to create less hardship on the Palestinians.
On Monday, the barrier's planners announced a series of changes to the planned route of a 60-mile stretch of the structure.
They said the changes would move the route much closer to the ``Green Line'' -- the 1967 boundary -- and delay construction for a year.
In recent days, the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the government to explain the ramifications of the Hague ruling. Mazuz, the attorney general, has warned that if Israel continues to ignore the international court, it could face sanctions.
Also Tuesdday, Israeli troops raided the Askar refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, rounding up hundreds of male residents and detaining them in a high school courtyard, witnesses said.
The raid in Nablus came just a day after Israeli troops withdrew from the city after more than a week as they carried out a series of searches and arrests in the city center. The army frequently operates in Nablus, the West Bank's largest city, saying it is a center of militant activity.
Dozens of Israeli troops, backed by army jeeps and armored vehicles, entered the camp early Tuesday morning, enforced a curfew, and sealed off all entrances to the camp, witnesses said.
The army said soldiers were questioning several hundred Palestinians as part of their ``ongoing search'' for militants. They said anyone found innocent of involvement in militant activity would be freed.
Associated Press Television footage showed hundreds of men, crouching on the ground of the courtyard, waiting to be called for questioning. One soldier was seen grabbing a blindfolded elderly Palestinian man by the back of his neck, pushing him along.
In a related matter, a Defense Ministry report called for a sweeping overhaul of Israeli practices at West Bank military checkpoints, saying the current operations have hurt Israel's image.
Israel has set up dozens of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank, severely hindering the movement of Palestinians and damaging the local economy. Israel says the checkpoints are needed to protect against militants.
The ministry's report cited managerial, ethical lapses and lack of discipline at the checkpoints. It said poor training and stress on the soldiers has led to abuses, including beatings, humiliation, lengthy delays and illegal confiscations of car keys.
It called on Israel to set a behavioral code for soldiers manning the checkpoints, better training and the use of videocameras and other techniques to monitor the situation. It also called for harsher punishment of soldiers who abuse their positions.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had arrested a senior commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. It said the man, Adnan Abayat, was responsible for the deaths of eight Israelis and has been on the run for three years.
Al Aqsa is a violent group loosely linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
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