Friday, August 8, 2008

Did Israel commit war crimes in Jenin? Pt.1 (Human Shielding)

Defenders of the ZIonist state often make the case that Israel committed no crimes during its invasion of the Jenin refugee camp. In fact, Israel committed extensive war crimes, as I will be documenting. The first: the use of Palestinian as human shields and for military purposes. These are merely example, and is not an exhaustive recount of all Zionist activities related to human shielding in Jenin:

"Among the most serious "human shielding" cases documented in Jenin by Human Rights Watch were the cases of four brothers, a father and his fourteen-year-old son, and two other men who were used to shield IDF soldiers from attack by Palestinian militants while the IDF soldiers occupied a large house located directly across from the main UNRWA compound in the camp."

"Imad Gharaib, aged thirty-four, was one of the four brothers. On Saturday, April 6, at about 6:00 a.m., a group of thirty to forty IDF soldiers entered the Gharaib family home, and forced the Gharaib brothers to walk in front of them as they searched the home. One of the IDF soldiers abused Imad, beating him with his rifle and threatening to shoot him if he did not reveal where he had hidden his gun (Imad said he does not possess a gun):"

"Kamal Tawalbi, a forty-three-year-old father of fourteen children, and his fourteen-year-old son were also taken to the same house and forced to stand facing the Palestinian gunfire. The IDF soldiers also placed them at the windows and forced them to stand in front of the soldiers as the soldiers shot at Palestinian gunmen in the camp:"

'The soldiers also treated Kamal Tawalbi and the other men with cruelty. During his interview with Human Rights Watch, Kamal Tawalbi-who had been taken from his home by the IDF soldiers while his home was burning from a helicopter strike-broke down in tears as he recounted how the IDF soldiers had tried to make him believe that his family had been killed while he was in custody:"

"Sixty-five-year-old Lutfiya Abu Zeid told Human Rights Watch that IDF soldiers twice took her from the room where she was taking shelter to use her as a human shield. The first time was at approximately 5:00 p.m. on April 6, when they made her go with them and open doors as they checked a neighboring house. They returned at about 9:00 p.m. the same day; Lutfiya had just started to pray. "The soldier said come here and I said, who me? He said yes." The soldiers took her by her shoulders and held her in front of them as they exited the house and were joined by other soldiers. They took Lutfiya onto the roof and left her in plain sight as a battle began."


And, the admission from ZIonist soldiers themselves:

"In an interview with the New York Times, a group of Israeli soldiers in Jenin admitted that they had used Palestinian civilians to shield themselves from attack by Palestinian gunmen. "Yes, because of the snipers [we used Palestinian civilians]," one of the soldiers stated, "If the sniper sees his friend there, he won't shoot." A soldier also told the New York Times that they had used Palestinian civilians to open the doors of homes out of fear of booby-traps: "We had a soldier who opened a door and was killed by a booby-trap that went off in his face. We let them [Palestinian civilians] open the door. If he knows it is booby-trapped, he won't open it."95"

Human Shielding, Indeed.

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