Source: https://casebook.icrc.org/print/20694
Timestamp: 2020-08-13 06:40:16
Document Index: 379741134

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 1', 'Art. 2', 'Art. 1', 'Art. 33', 'Arts 48', 'Arts 4', 'Arts 46', 'Arts 20', 'Art. 10', 'Arts 29', 'Arts 85', 'Arts 37', 'Arts 48', 'Art. 4', 'Arts 43', 'Art. 49', 'Art. 50', 'ART/380', 'ART/470']

Home > Amnesty International, Breach of the Principle of Distinction
[Source: Amnesty International, “Amnesty International report calls on Palestinian armed groups to stop civilian killings” AI INDEX: MDE 15/104/2002, PRESS RELEASE, 11 July 2002 ; available on http://www.amnesty.org [1]]
[Source: Amnesty International, ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Without distinction – attacks on civilians by Palestinian armed groups. AI INDEX: MDE 02/003/2002, 11 July 2002. Footnotes are not reproduced; available on http://www.amnesty.org [1]]
How do you qualify the conflict with which this case is concerned? Is it an international armed conflict? Are there hostilities between two High Contracting Parties? If not, why would the IHL of international armed conflict be applicable? Because it is a war of national liberation within the meaning of Art. 1(4) of Protocol I? Even though Israel is not party to the Protocol? Because of the Israeli occupation of territories? Is it important, in order to answer this question, to know whether the territory belongs or belonged to Jordan, Egypt or “Palestine”? (GC I-IV, Art. 2 [2]; P I, Art. 1 [3])
Is terrorism prohibited by IHL? If acts of terrorism were not specifically prohibited, would they still be banned by more general provisions of IHL? Which ones? (GC IV, Art. 33(1) [4]; P I, Arts 48 [5] and 51 [6]; P II, Arts 4(2)(d) [7] and 13(2) [8]; CIHL, Rules 1 [9], 2 [10] and 11 [11]-12 [12])
Can such acts be justified by a “just cause”, such as the struggle against a foreign occupier? Can they be justified as reprisals? Are reprisals acceptable in IHL? In reaction to violations of IHL such as “unlawful killings, extra-judicial executions, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and collective punishments”? (GC I-IV, Arts 46 [13]/47 [14]/13(3) [15]/33 [4] respectively; P I, Arts 20 [16], 51(6) [6] and 52(1) [17]; CIHL, Rules 145-147 [18])
Who can be held responsible at the international level for these suicide attacks? Only those in charge of the armed groups that organize them? Do such groups have international responsibility, just as States do? [See International Law Commission, Articles on State Responsibility [Part A., Art. 10 and its commentary]] Could the Palestinian Authority be held responsible for attacks carried out from the autonomous territories? Even when it condemns the attacks? Does it have a responsibility to “arrest” and “bring to justice those who order, plan or carry out attacks”? Is this an obligation laid down by IHL? Is the Palestinian Authority bound by IHL? On what grounds? Because the Palestine Liberation Organization declared on 21 June 1989 that it would accede to the Geneva Conventions? Does Israel have a responsibility to arrest and bring these persons to justice? Can it do so? Even if that involves police or military operations in autonomous Palestinian territory? (GC IV, Arts 29 [19], 146 [20]and 148 [21]; P I, Arts 85(1) [22] and 91 [23]; CIHL, Rules 149 [24]-150 [25])
Are suicide attacks as a means of warfare prohibited by IHL? Even if committed against a legitimate military objective? Will your answer differ depending on whether the attacker carries arms openly or has a distinctive sign? Can the instigators and organizers of a suicide attack also be held responsible for the death of its perpetrator? Do you think they ought to be? (P I, Arts 37(1)(c) [26], 43 [27], 44 [28] and 51 [6]; CIHL, Rules 11 [11]-12 [12]and 106 [29])
Are Israeli settlements in the occupied territories military objectives? Are they if they are defended by a military base? If many settlers are armed? What is the definition of a military objective? (P I, Arts 48 [5] and 52 [17]; CIHL, Rules 1 [9], 6-10 [18])
Is an armed civilian a combatant? Is an armed civilian a legitimate target? In what circumstances? Are settlers always civilians “unless they serve in the Israeli armed forces”? Even those organized in self-defence militias? Even those who carry out attacks against Palestinians or destroy their homes? (GC III, Art. 4 [30]; P I, Arts 43 [27], 44 [28], 50 [31] and 51(3) [6]; CIHL, Rules 3-6 [18])
Is an unarmed settler a civilian? Even if he belongs to a self-defence militia of his settlement? Does he forfeit the protection offered by IHL, because the settlements are illegal under international law (GC IV, Art. 49(6) [32]; CIHL, Rule 130 [33])? Does that violation justify violations of IHL committed against the settlers? (P I, Art. 50 [31]; CIHL, Rules 1 [9], 5 [34]-6 [35])
Source URL: https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/amnesty-international-breach-principle-distinction
[4] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=72728B6DE56C7A68C12563CD0051BC40
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[9] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule1
[10] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule2
[11] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule11
[12] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule12
[13] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=671E488DF2686DB7C12563CD0051A284
[14] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=C8A91B30B8AB6C6EC12563CD0051A8AF
[16] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=0D8292177AFD9AD0C12563CD0051D8B7
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[18] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul
[19] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=CD0A4700ACD4D707C12563CD0051BBFC
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[21] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/ART/380-600170?OpenDocument
[22] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=73D05A98B6CEB566C12563CD0051E1A0
[23] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=F461FC196C18A52DC12563CD0051E2AC
[24] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule149
[25] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule150
[26] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=3EA868BE16BCBB86C12563CD0051DB0B
[27] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&amp;documentId=AF64638EB5530E58C12563CD0051DB93
[28] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/ART/470-750054?OpenDocument
[29] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule106
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[33] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule130
[34] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule5
[35] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule6