Human Shields

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koan
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Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 1:00 pm

Human Shields

Post by koan »

Bet you thought this thread was gonna be about Hezbollah.

While the term "human shield" is associated with Islamist militants storing and firing weapons near civilian homes, the more direct use of human shields is being lost in the propaganda. I say propaganda because I don't see how the Islamists can be accused of this crime when the IDF literally takes civilians and makes them walk in front of the army. It is actually military procedure ("neighborhood procedure" later changed to “operational directive - prior warning”) to force Palestian civilians to approach and enter the homes of suspected militants before the IDF will follow.

20 July 2006: Israeli Soldiers use civilians as Human Shields in Beit Hanun

B'Tselem's initial investigation indicates that, during an incursion by Israeli forces into Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip, on 17 July 2006, soldiers seized control of two buildings in the town and used residents as human shield.

After seizing control of the buildings, the soldiers held six residents, two of them minors, on the staircases of the two buildings, at the entrance to rooms in which the soldiers positioned themselves, for some twelve hours. During this time, there were intense exchanges of gunfire between the soldiers and armed Palestinians. The soldiers also demanded that one of the occupants walk in front of them during a search of all the apartments in one of the buildings, after which they released her.
koan
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Human Shields

Post by koan »

Israel faces human shield claim

BBC, 23 April, 2004

Israeli human rights activists have accused border police of using a 13-year-old Palestinian as a human shield.

Rabbis for Human Rights say that Mohammed Badwan was tied by police to a jeep during a recent demonstration in the West Bank village of Bidou.

The police apparently hoped this would stop Palestinians from throwing stones during a protest against Israel's West Bank barrier.

...

Mohammed's father, Saeed, said: "When I saw him on the hood of the jeep, my whole mind went crazy - he was shivering from fear."

Rabbis for Human Rights director Rabbi Arik Ascherman was detained by police when he tried to intervene to help Mohammed.

"It is very sad to see that we have come to this position. There is disbelief," Rabbi Ascherman said.
koan
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Human Shields

Post by koan »

Use of Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields

Human Rights Watch Report, 2002

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. In separate interviews with Human Rights Watch, the victims described how they were forced to stand on the balcony of the house to deter Palestinian gunmen from firing in the direction of the IDF soldiers. The Palestinian civilians also described how the IDF soldiers had forced them to stand in front of the soldiers when the soldiers fired at Palestinian gunmen, while resting their rifles on the shoulders of the Palestinian civilians.
koan
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Human Shields

Post by koan »

Muhammad Qataish, aged twenty-four, lived near the camp entrance, above the government hospital. At about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 5, Qataish and his family were sheltering from helicopter and other fire in the living room of his house. IDF soldiers broke down the back door and entered the house. In response to the soldiers' orders, Qataish raised his hands, then lifted his shirt and pulled down his trousers. He was then ordered to search the house, room by room at gunpoint. Qataish was then ordered to search the neighboring house, his uncle's, the same way. After they had finished, all the young men were taken out of the house and lined up against a wall.

Qataish and his brother Khaled thought the soldiers were going to arrest them. To their surprise, the soldiers took them both onto the street, and formed one line of soldiers behind each brother. Qataysh told Human Rights Watch:

We were lined up along the street, Khaled and myself, each with a line of soldiers behind us. One soldier was resting his M16 on Khaled's right shoulder. I was on Khaled's right. They marched us from the house, along Hawakeen Street, into the middle of the camp, the Hawashin area. They did not say a word. Khaled asked them where we were going. The soldier said, "If you make any noise, we'll shoot you! It was about 4:30 p.m. There were about twenty to twenty-five soldiers with us."
koan
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Human Shields

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Israeli High Court Rules Army Use of Human Shields Illegal

by Jon Elmer, The New Standard

Oct. 10, 2005 – After delaying a decision for over three years, Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled that the military’s use of Palestinian "human shields" in the Occupied Territories is illegal and a violation of international law.

The practice, dubbed the "neighbor procedure" by the army, has been widely practiced in the West Bank throughout the five-year Palestinian uprising, including in an incident last month in Hebron.

Documented examples of the procedure range from sending Palestinians into houses to ensure they are not booby-trapped, to forcing Palestinian ambulances to drive in front of Israeli troops, to resting rifles on the shoulders of civilians to deter fire when ground forces carry out urban operations. ...

The ruling came in response to a May 2002 petition by a coalition of seven Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, filed in response to widespread reports - some from Israel Defense Forces personnel themselves -- recounting the use of human shields during a major West Bank incursion.
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zinkyusa
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Human Shields

Post by zinkyusa »

Does this mean Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly won't be able to use Alan Colmes as a human shield if they visist the Middle East?

Oh, well they can always bring him along in case they get hungry and need a light snack. I hear liberals taste like chickn...:yh_chickn
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
koan
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Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 1:00 pm

Human Shields

Post by koan »

zinkyusa wrote: Does this mean Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly won't be able to use Alan Colmes as a human shield if they visist the Middle East?

Oh, well they can always bring him along in case they get hungry and need a light snack. I hear liberals taste like chickn...:yh_chickn


It means that according to Israel they can use whomever they choose, as long as he/she isn't Jewish.

This 12 year old boy doesn't think it is funny:

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