gelatik
21.07.02, 23:45
Israeli Attorney General Opposes Expulsion, France Warns Israel
The Israeli government's legal adviser Friday opposed a plan to expel to the
Gaza Strip the families of West Bank Palestinian resistance activists linked
to anti-Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, France warned that if Israel went ahead
with the forced expulsion, it would be violating the Geneva Conventions.
Elyakim Rubinstein, Israel’s Attorney General, said the expulsion of family
members was only possible in cases of "tangible evidence of their direct
involvement in terrorist activity", Israel’s Radio said, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
He voiced his opposition to the controversial proposal during a meeting with
the army's chief military prosecutor and security officials.
The officials of Israel's Shin Beth internal security services, who took part
in the meeting, were in favor of expelling the families of suspected
militants as a deterrent for future "human bombs", the radio added.
Rubinstein said that he would be holding emergency consultations with senior
figures in the Israeli Defense Ministry 'in the very near future,' to discuss
the legality of the planned expulsions, according to Israeli daily newspaper
Ha’aretz.
Early Friday in the West Bank, the Israeli army seized 21 male relatives of
resistance activists linked to the anti-Israeli attacks during the past week
and threatened to deport them to the Gaza Strip.
Rubinstein, however, gave his green light to the destruction of homes
belonging to relatives of bombers or other Palestinian activists suspected of
planning attacks, AFP reported.
Marking the seriousness of the Israeli illegal practices against the
Palestinians, France Friday warned that expelling relatives of Palestinian
freedom fighters would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
"The 4th Geneva Convention applies in this case," French Foreign Ministry
spokesman Francois Riveasseau told a media conference, according to AFP.
Article 147 of that convention, which protects civilians during conflicts,
states that the "unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of
a protected person" would constitute a grave breach.
Rivasseau stressed, however, that Israel had not yet taken that action and
that "as of right now, there is nothing to say about it".
A senior Israeli security official said Friday that his country was examining
the possibility of expelling the detainees to the Gaza Strip but admitted
there may be "legal problems".
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, for his part, said the authorities
were awaiting the green light for the move from a government legal adviser.
"We have no choice, and terrorism is pushing us to take measures that we
would prefer to avoid," Peres said on public radio.
Perez and other Israeli officials ignore the fact that any people under
occupation are entitled to resist that occupation until the liberation of
their homeland.
In another development, the Israeli forced expulsion announcement sparked
Palestinian anger and threats of bloody retaliation from the resistance Hamas
group.
"This dangerous measure is against the Geneva Convention, and transferring
Palestinian citizens is a war crime," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb
Erakat told AFP.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a top aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also
warned the Israeli government not to deport the detained families, saying it
would lead to further explosions of violence.
"This policy of transferring Palestinians will not help international efforts
to protect the peace process, but will lead to more violence and an explosion
in this area. We ask the Israeli government to stop this policy," he said.
Hamas, which carried out the bulk of bombings against Israel during the
Intifada, was swift to vow revenge.
"Our answer to the Zionists will be strong and bloody, we will send explosive
messages to the Zionists everywhere we can get to," said the Ezzedine al-
Qassem Brigades, the group's armed wing, in a statement to AFP in Gaza City.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) already warned last month
that such expulsions would be a form of "collective punishment" banned under
the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Those arrested are relatives of activists linked to Wednesday's twin Tel Aviv
bombing that killed three people, and bus ambushes in December and last
Tuesday that left 20 Israelis dead outside the Emmanuel settlement.
The attacks shattered four weeks of relative calm and shocked Israelis who
hoped the army's reoccupation and closures of the West Bank, launched June
19, would grant them security.
