Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: La pochezza delle scuse di Israele sulle stragi di civili in Libano

Fog of War Is No Cover for Causing Civilian Deaths
By Kenneth Roth
August 4, 2006
The awful bloodshed and intense emotions of war are not conducive to
careful moral reasoning. With Hezbollah rockets raining down on northern
Israel, an honest reckoning of the conduct of Israeli forces in Lebanon is
difficult.
Facile arguments and serious misconceptions, like those listed below, are
too easily accepted. But given the stakes, it is especially important to
cut through these misunderstandings. Here's one attempt to do so. 
"The Israeli military exercises great care to avoid harming Lebanese
civilians."
Not always. Human Rights Watch investigators in Lebanon have recorded an
appalling number of incidents in which civilians and civilian objects were
hit with no apparent military justification: 12 civilians, including nine
children, killed in Dweir; at least 16 civilians, including nine children,
killed while fleeing Marwahin; nine civilians, including four children,
killed in Beflay; as many as 42 civilians, including many children, killed
in Srifa; some 60% of nine square blocks of southern Beirut, composed
mostly of eight- to 10-story apartment buildings, destroyed; and now the
tragedy of civilians, many of them children, killed at Qana.
The list goes on. With hundreds of Lebanese civilians killed in three
weeks of bombing, Israel clearly isn't doing enough to avoid such loss of
life.
"But Israel should be given more latitude because it's responding to an
abusive and aggressive force like Hezbollah which wants to wipe Israel off
the face of the earth." 
Wrong. Human Rights Watch has condemned Hezbollah for firing both
indiscriminately and intentionally at Israeli civilians, calling these
serious breaches of international humanitarian law and war crimes. But
that doesn't change the rules governing Israel. Nor does the question of
who started the conflict, or how nefarious an opponent's intentions are.
The obligations to respect international humanitarian law, including to
refrain from deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and to take
all feasible precautions against civilian casualties, persist regardless
of the conduct of one's opponent. Grave breaches remain war crimes.
Otherwise, it would take just one side's charge of abuse, one side's claim
to have been the victim of aggression, to return to the era of total war
in which all civilians are fair game. 
"The Israeli military issued repeated warnings asking Lebanese civilians
to evacuate. If any Lebanese are still around, they must be Hezbollah
combatants."
No. To begin with, many Lebanese civilians who want to leave, can't. They
might be old or infirm, unable to afford exorbitant taxi fares, or
terrified at the prospect of becoming one of the many roadside victims of
Israeli military attacks.
In any event, while international humanitarian law strongly encourages
warnings — and Israel should be commended for issuing them — the failure
to heed one does not create a free-fire zone. If it did, Palestinian
militant groups might "warn" all settlers to leave Israeli settlements and
then be justified in treating as legitimate targets those who remained. 
"Hezbollah should bear responsibility for civilian deaths because it mixes
its fighters and arms with the civilian population."
Not so quick. International humanitarian law does prohibit the deliberate
use of civilians to shield fighters and military assets, and it requires
all parties to do everything feasible to station their forces away from
civilians. Clearly Hezbollah sometimes is violating these prohibitions,
but despite the Israeli military's claims, that doesn't begin to account
for the high Lebanese death toll. In many cases, Lebanese civilians who
have survived air strikes on their homes or vehicles have told Human
Rights Watch that Hezbollah was nowhere nearby when the attack took place.
In any event, even the use of civilian structures alone isn't enough to
justify an attack. They become legitimate military targets only if
Hezbollah troops or arms are present at the time, and the military value
of their destruction outweighs the civilian cost. Human Rights Watch's
research shows that repeatedly that wasn't the case. 
"But Lebanese civilians deserve what they get because their government
tolerated the Hezbollah militia in its midst."
Hardly. Leaving aside the question of whether the Lebanese government had
the capacity to rein in Hezbollah, a government's misdeeds never justify
attacks on its people. Otherwise, Israeli civilians might become
legitimate objects of military attack for what many in the region view as
their government's repressive occupation.
"Even if it's wrong to deliberately target Lebanese civilians, the Israeli
military can certainly squeeze them by targeting their infrastructure."
No, it can't. International humanitarian law permits attacks on
infrastructure only if it is making an effective military contribution,
and the military benefits of its destruction outweigh the civilian costs.
That case is difficult, if not impossible, to make for the extensive
attacks on electrical facilities, bridges and roadways throughout the
country. 
"Why do these rules matter? No one enforces them anyway."
Don't be so sure. Anyone ordering or committing war crimes should be
prosecuted in Israeli courts. If they aren't, they could be pursued by any
national court exercising universal jurisdiction or, upon Lebanon's
invitation, by the International Criminal Court. The same goes for
Hezbollah's war crimes.
Moreover, enforcement aside, the many civilian victims of Israeli bombing
have been a political boon to Hezbollah, cementing loyalty among its
followers. Is Israel really better off fighting the war with such reckless
disregard for the fate of civilians?
Kenneth Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch.
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