Uri Blau; 27/12/08; (5 Items)
Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, Chief Military Advocate General, reacted to Haaretz’s report Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces have assassinated Palestinians in apparent defiance of High Court of Justice guidelines for such operations by saying the article - which will appear in full in Haaretz’s weekend supplement - was “annoying and misleading.” Human rights activists are considering filing a motion accusing the army of contempt of court following the report. Yoav Leff, spokesperson for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said he intends to contact the Attorney General and request that he looks into the report. In a conversation with Brigadier General Yair Naveh, who was the GOC Central Command at the time, he told Haaretz: “Never mind the court’s instruction, I don’t know when the court issued them.”
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041319.html
Court ruling sees IDF targeted assassinations as last resort
Ze’ev Segal; 27/11/08
In the High Court of Justice decision on targeted assassinations, the issue of the need for proportionality stands out. This legal requirement means that if the same effect can be achieved, or at least its primary goal, by a less drastic act then the extreme step may not be taken. In this light, the court ruled that if it is possible to arrest a terrorist who is taking a direct part in an illegal act, and question him and put him on trial, then this should be done instead of a targeted assassination. Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, in his 2006 ruling stated: “The arrest, investigation and trial are not always the means to be used. Sometimes this possibility does not exist at all. Sometimes it is dependent on such a great risk to the lives of the soldiers that there is no requirement to do so,” wrote Barak. Nevertheless, Barak noted it was always required to consider the less damaging steps.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041318.html
This is Gaza
Amira Hass; 27/11/08
If it’s not the power getting cut, leaving entire neighborhoods in darkness, then it’s the water not reaching the top floors or the cooking gas running out. If you have an electric generator, some small part of it is bound to be broken and unfixable, because even before the hermetic three-week siege, Israel prohibited bringing in any spare parts for cars, machines and household electric appliances. And if you somehow manage to find the money for a generator that was smuggled through the tunnels (its price has doubled or tripled since last month), it’s at the expense of buying a heater (not electric, of course), English lessons, clothes for the children and visits to the doctor. This is Gaza in November 2008. Just as Gaza is the emptying of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency storehouses and the farmers who sowed and watered, but cannot market, their tomatoes, guavas and strawberries out of the Gaza Strip because Israel forbids it, it is also the calmness with which people receive the sudden darkness and the jokes that there is not much food in the refrigerator to spoil anyway.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041345.html
U.S. buyer of controversial Hebron house moves in ahead of eviction threat
Nadav Shragai and Amos Harel; 27/11/08
The Jewish-American man who says he purchased the House of Contention in Hebron moved in to live there yesterday, joining the 16 Jewish families already residing in the building and hundreds of rightist activists who have come to prevent security forces from evicting the tenants. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief-of-Staff Gabi Ashkenazi also visited the West Bank city yesterday to approve the Israel Defense Forces plan for the eviction. The tour was preceded by several attempts by the defense establishment to negotiate with the settlers and persuade them to leave of their own volition. A High Court of Justice ruling last week gave the settlers three days to evacuate, but a loophole was found allowing them to remain for a full 30 days before any force could be taken.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041317.html
Olmert hints: No forced evacuation of Hebron house; Barak to review army
Aluf Benn and Amos Harel; 27/11/08
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted yesterday that the government will not forcibly evacuate settlers from the so-called “House of Contention” in Hebron, but will instead settle for preventing settler attacks on their Palestinian neighbors. Speaking with reporters during his trip to Washington, Olmert said: “I read the High Court of Justice’s decision closely. It ordered the house’s occupants to vacate within three days, and if they do not, [it said], the government will have to do so. But it did not explicitly order the government to do so. There is something less than completely unequivocal in the wording the court chose.” However, he added, “The repeated attacks on Palestinian civilians and property are clearly intolerable, and we will have to act against them with full force.”
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040957.html
