Human Shields Pose Dilemma for Israeli Army
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
November 20, 2006
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The Israeli army is facing the
"difficult dilemma" of having to defend its own citizens while ensuring
the safety of Palestinians civilians, an Israeli army officer said on
Monday. Rockets continued to fall on southern Israel as she spoke.
Hundreds
of Palestinian civilians gathered at the homes of two terrorists over
the weekend, forming a human shield to prevent an Israeli attack on the
men.
Israel follows a policy of telephoning the occupants of
targeted houses in the Gaza Strip to warn them of impending air strikes
so civilians will have time to get out. These are houses where weapons
may be stored or where terror plots may be hatched.
Mohammed
Baroud, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, and another
Hamas militant were warned on Saturday night that they had 30 minutes
to leave their homes before an air strike.
But instead of
leaving, they men called for crowds of civilians to stand outside as
human shields to protect them. Hundreds of supporters, including women
and armed men, gathered at the homes, shouting, "Death to Israel, Death
to America."
Israel was forced to call off its air strike.
Palestinian
Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh visited the site of the
civilian protest and expressed his pride at what he called "this
national stand." He called it "the first step toward protecting our
homes, the homes of our children."
The terrorists are causing Israel to face a very "difficult dilemma," said Israeli army spokeswoman Capt. Noa Meir.
Israel
not only must protect its own citizens, it must also avoid harming
Palestinian civilians who place themselves in harm's way, Meir said in
a telephone interview.
But the responsibility for the
Palestinian casualties rests with Palestinian terrorists who use
civilians as shields, said Meir. She noted that this is not the first
time that Palestinian militants have called on civilians to protect
them.
Eighteen days ago, Palestinian gunmen fleeing Israeli
troops holed up in a Gaza mosque. Thousands of protesters, mostly
women, were called to surround the mosque, providing cover for the
militants to escape. Two women were killed in exchanges of fire.
"It
is up to us to make the very difficult distinction between combatants
and non-combatants," said Meir. Nevertheless, she said, if someone is
harboring terrorists or roaming around where an Israeli military
operation is taking place, they are liable to get hurt.
It is
not clear what status civilians have when they actively participate in
harboring terrorists or willingly act as human shields.
Israeli
air strikes against militants and weapons manufacturing and storage
facilities are one of the methods the army uses to combat rocket fire
on Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip. Meir said there has been no
change in Israeli policy regarding those preemptive air strikes.
The
Israeli air force carried out an aerial attack Sunday against a vehicle
carrying Hamas militants who the army said were part of the rocket
production division and were involved in recent rocket attacks on the
southern Israeli city of Sderot.
Palestinian militants
launched seven rockets at Israel on Monday. Two slammed into Sderot,
where a woman was killed in a similar attack last week.
Israel
on Sunday rejected as one-sided and hypocritical a U.N. resolution
calling on Israel to withdraw its forces and halt its operation in the
Gaza Strip immediately. The resolution said it "deeply deplored" the
Israeli offensive, specifically an Israeli army mishap two weeks ago,
in which at least 18 Palestinians were killed by what Israel described
as an errant artillery shell.
The resolution also called on the Palestinian Authority to bring an end to violence and rocket firing at Israel.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he viewed "severely" the U.N. General
Assembly resolution. "Those who preach morality and roll their eyes
have yet to see fit to initiate a resolution in condemnation of those
[Palestinians] who are shooting with the goal of hitting [Israeli]
civilians as a long-range, systematic policy," Olmert said.
"Israel
withdrew a year ago from Gaza, has deployed its forces on the border
with Gaza [and] was hailed by the whole international community for
this step," Israeli Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog said in reference to
Israel's unilateral withdrawal of troops and the uprooting of 21 Jewish
communities in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Palestinians have
attacked Israel time after time from the Gaza Strip. Israel cannot
accept cross-border attacks from Gaza, Herzog said. "Any sane nation
would do the same."
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