Intentional attacks on the Palestinian population can be deemed a war crime and accountability for violations of international law must be imposed, Bill Van Esveld, Israel, Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch, told RT.
RT:As we know, the death toll in Gaza has
climbed to 100. Many of them are children under the age of 17 –
we’re talking about dozens here. Do you think the issue’s getting
enough attention, considering the amount of civilian deaths?
BE: I think the general issue is getting enough
attention, but the civilian suffering is not getting enough
attention – it’s not getting enough attention from the Israeli
forces who were conducting those airstrikes, naval strikes, tank
shelling, and other forms of attack. Under the laws of war –
which bind Israel as they bind any military force – you cannot
shoot first and ask questions later. You have got to make sure
what you’re shooting at is a legitimate target, and if there’s
any doubt in your mind whether it might be civilian, you have to
hold fire, and I’m very concerned that we are not seeing that –
we may be seeing the opposite.
RT:Israel is saying it’s acting only to
protect its population from Hamas – but since 2008 over 1000
civilians were killed in Gaza. That’s about 20 times more than
the Israeli civilian death toll. And if we look at the total
number of Palestinian children killed since 2008, we’re talking
about over 500. Do you think Israel’s response is measured
considering all this?
BE: Well, it’s not a question of whether Israel
has a right to defend itself – that’s an obvious yes; of course
they have a right to defend themselves. The question is how they
are going about it. When they make mistakes, do they learn from
them? When forces do something deliberate or reckless are they
punished? And the answer to those last questions is a clear “no.”
We’ve seen virtually no accountability for very well-documented
past cases of abuse, violations, and even war crimes, and without
accountability and with impunity, then abuses will obviously
continue.
RT:We’re interested to hear what you have
to say about what the former mayor of the Israeli town of Shiloh
thinks – he says the only way to win this war is to destroy the
enemy without excessive regard for who’s a soldier and who’s a
civilian. How does your organization respond to a statement like
this?
BE: Well, that would be a complete disaster and
I hope that nobody listens to that official. If that official
were a commander in a military and his troops acted on that
order, he could be prosecuted for war crimes. That is a blatant
out-and-out disregard for the most fundamental rule of war, which
is to spare civilians, and there is a good reason for it. You
weaken your enemy by attacking their fighters and their military
objects. You do nothing to weaken your enemy by attacking a
civilian population who’s not fighting you. It does nothing for
you; it’s a war crime, and it should not be advocated.
RT:World leaders are calling for an end to
the violence, but Israel seems determined to continue. What do
you think it would take to agree a truce?
BE: It’s difficult to say at this point;
obviously both sides feel that they need to keep doing what
they’re doing which is harming – unfortunately – civilians. World
leaders need to make a very clear statement that the violations
of the objective laws – the laws that apply to both sides – will
not be tolerated. Not to just say things like “We call for
restraint” or “We hope the situation will go away.” They need to
make it clear that there will be accountability for violations
and this is going to be looked into and it’s not going to be
swept under the carpet as the Goldstone Report was eventually put
aside after the terrible carnage in 2008/9. My organization has
been calling for the state of Palestine to go to the ICC for a
year now, and it’s high time for them to do that.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.