By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MADRID, Spain – On January 29, a Spanish High Court judge, Fernando Andreu, announced that the court will launch an investigation of seven Israelis over an attack on July 22, 2002.  The investigation relates to the decision to drop a one ton bomb on a housing block in a raid targeting Salah Shehada, a Hamas commander.  The attack killed 14 civilians, including nine children, and injured over 150 others.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights brought the case before the Spanish courts on behalf of the families of the victims.  Main targets of the investigation are then-Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Dan Halutz, the then air force commander of the Israeli army.  Other persons of interest include: Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon, former GOC Southern Command Doron Almog, former National Security Council Head Giora Eiland and Brigadier-General (Ret.) Mike Herzog.

Not surprisingly, Ben-Eliezer strongly criticized the Spanish court’s announcement; claiming that Spanish law is siding with terrorist organizations.  “This is a ridiculous decision and, even more than ridiculous, it is outrageous,” Ben-Eliezer said. “Terror organizations are using the courts in the free world, the methods of democratic countries, to file suit against a country that is operating against terror.”

Ben-Eliezer said he does not regret his decision to bomb Gaza.  “Salah Shehadeh was a Hamas activist, an arch-murderer whose hands were stained with the blood of about 100 Israelis,” he said.  Shehadeh was the leader of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, and Israel claims that he was responsible for attacks against hundreds of Israeli civilians.

Current Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, also criticized the Spanish court’s investigation.  Barak stated, “Anybody calling the liquidation of a terrorist a ‘crime against humanity’ is living in an upside-down world. All senior personnel in the military establishment acted appropriately, in the name of the state of Israel, through their commitment to ensure the security of Israeli citizens.”

Spanish law permits universal jurisdiction for certain crimes; such jurisdiction allows the prosecution of foreigners for such crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity and torture committed anywhere in the world.  On January 30, Israeli Foreign Ministry Tzipi Livni stated that she spoke with her Spanish counterpart.  According to Livni, “Spain has decided to change its legislation in connection with universal jurisdiction and this can prevent the abuse of the Spanish legal system.”

However, Spanish state television TVE quoted government sources as saying the possibility of a legal “adjustment or modification” would not be retroactive and would not affect the case before the courts.

For more information, please see:

Jerusalem Post – “We’ll Amend Law to Prevent Such Probes” – 31 January 2009

CNN – Top Israeli Official Blasts Spanish Court’s Probe – 30 January 2009

International Herald Tribune – Livni Says Spain to Drop Universal Legislation – 30 January 2009

Reuters – Israel Says Spain Says it Will Amend War Crimes Law – 30 January 2009

Al Bawaba – Spanish Court to Investigate Israeli Officials for Alleged ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ – 29 January 2009

Reuters – Spanish Court Investigates 2002 Israeli Gaza Attack – 29 January 2009

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

KISSUFIM CROSSING, Israel/Gaza – On January 27, a bomb attack killed one Israeli soldier and injured three others as they patrolled the Kissufim border crossing.  According Israeli military authorities, it is unknown whether the explosive device was remotely detonated or pressured triggered.  This is the most serious exchange since the unilateral ceasefires were declared.

Following the attack, Palestinian witnesses report that a gunfight claimed the life a Palestinian farmer.  Some sources indicate that the gunfight was an immediate response to the bomb attack.  However, Dr Moaiya Hassanain of Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that the farmer was killed several miles away.

In confirming the border attack, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, added that Israel must respond to “whoever fires towards us, places a bomb [under us] or smuggles weapons.”  Also, Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, warned that Israel would retaliate the grave ceasefire violation at the Kissufim crossing.  Mr Barak said that Israel “cannot accept” the attack. “We will respond, but there is no point in elaborating,” he said.

Such response took place in the form of Israeli airstrikes and ground incursion in southern Gaza.  Residents of Khan Younis report heavy fighting in the area.  One airstrike targeted a Hamas militant on a motorbike.  The strike left him and a passer-by wounded.  Shortly afterwards, an Israeli warplane flew over the strip causing a sonic boom, apparently in a warning to the population.  In addition, Palestinian sources say 20 Israeli tanks and seven army bulldozers have made an incursion.

Also, in response to the border attack, Israel closed the crossings into Gaza.  This comes at a difficult time, as the crossings were briefly opened in the morning to allow the entrance of humanitarian aid.

No Palestinian militant group has claimed responsibility for the border attack.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Deadly Clash Along Gaza Border – 27 January 2009

BBC – Israel Launches Attacks in Gaza – 27 January 2009 h

Ha’aretz – Barak, Defense Officials Assess Response to Deadly Gaza Blast – 27 January 2009

New York Times – Two Killed in Violence on Gaza Border – 27 January 2009

Times – Israel Carries Out Air Strike After Bombs Kills Soldier on Gaza Border – 27 January 2009

Yedioth – Barak Vows to Retaliate Kissufim Attack – 27 January 2009

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen– On January 25, the Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection, a Yemeni child-rights organization based in Sana’a made an urgent humanitarian appeal to end the use of children as tribal fighters in northern Yemen.  According to a recent study by the organization, as many as half of the tribal fighters involved in violent clashes in north Yemen are children.

Seyaj noted that over the past four months, more than 63 people were killed in ethnic clashes in Amran province in north Yemen, and forty percent of those killed were children.  According to Ahmad Al-Qurashi, the organizations director, “the tribal culture in Yemen does not regard a 15-year old as a child…Yemen’s society as a whole views a 15-year old as a man and they’re forced into battles.  The society views fighting alongside a tribe as an important part of a child’s passage to manhood.  We see children as young as 13 carrying weapons that are bigger than they are.”

Seyaj blames the Yemeni government  for the high rate of children currently serving as tribal fighters.  The tribal areas in north Yemen are not provided sufficient financial resources by the government, and as a result they lack educational opportunities, and health and development programs.  Often children drop out of school by the age of 12 and either work in their families’ farms or are inducted as tribal soldiers.  According to the report released by Seyaj, the government does not intervene in the northern tribal areas to prevent the tribes from recruiting children as soldiers. 

In its Child Soldiers Global Report 2008, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers accused the Yemeni government of recruiting child soldiers in a war with rebels in north Yemen since 2004, despite the legal minimum recruitment age of 18.  According to the report, “joining the army was highly sought after, since other employment opportunities were extremely limited.  Parents sometimes agreed to the recruitment of their children into the armed forces because of their poor economic situation.”

Seyaj urged the government to provide the tribal areas with sufficient economic resources and with better educational opportunities in order to reduce the number of children serving as tribal fighters.  In addition, the organization is demanding that the fighting tribes throughout north Yemen to stop using children in armed clashes and to respect the State’s minimum legal age for an individual to join armed forces.  To that end, Seyaj recommends that government officials and tribal sheikhs enact a new law to punish those targeting women and children, using them as fighters for combat operations or for providing logistical support or any other form of engagement with tribal forces.
For more information, please see:

The Media Line – Report: Half Yemen’s Tribal Fighters are Children – 26 January 2009

Armies of Liberation – SEYAJ Opposes Use of Child Soldiers in Amran Tribal War – 25 January 2009

News Yemen – Yemeni Children Used as Soldiers in Sa’ada War: Report – 7 September 2008

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers – Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – 20 May 2008

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

JERUSALEM – On January 25, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert announced that the Cabinet approved a measure that will give legal protection to its military officers if they are accused of war crimes during the Gaza incursion.  This measure was proposed by Defense Minister Barak in response to international calls for investigations and prosecutions of possible war crimes.  

In announcing the measure, Olmert stated, “The state of Israel will completely back anyone that acted in its name… The soldiers and commanders that were sent on missions in Gaza need to know that they are safe from different tribunals.  Israel will assist them and protect them as they physically protected us during the operation in Gaza.”

Prior to gaining Cabinet support, Barak urged ministers to back the proposal; “The endorsement will ensure that since we sent out soldiers to carry out Operation Cast Lead, which was carried out exceptionally and by the most moral army in the world, the state of Israel, which sent the IDF on the mission, will give soldiers and commanders backing in the face of any external accusations or internal self-flagellation,”

The measure creates an inter-ministerial committee and is headed by Justice Minister Daniel Friedman.  It consists of representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign, Justice and Defense ministries, and will include experts on international law.

The purpose of the committee is “to coordinate Israel’s efforts to offer legal defense for anyone who took part in the operation.”  According to Olmert, Friedman “will formulate questions and answers relating to the army’s operations, which self-righteous people … might use to sue officers and soldiers,”

According to the proposal, Operation Cast Lead was a legitimate act of self-defense under international law, and followed years of restraint following the firing of thousands of rockets into southern Israel.  In addition, the proposal states that despite Israel’s best efforts, there were tragic and regrettable instances of civilian casualties.  Means of avoiding civilian casualties included dropping pamphlets and calling local residents to warn them to stay away from conflict zones.

The proposal also notes that Hamas “cynically” used civilians as human shields and is therefore responsible for noncombatant casualties.  In addition, Hamas is also accused of using civilians to manipulate the media and international public opinion.  According to Olmert, “Out of a policy of moral acrobatics they try to make the aggressor the victim and turn the victim into the aggressor.”  He added, “Hamas’s policy for years has been to fight to the last drop of Gaza civilians’ blood and to hurt them.”

While Israel is committing state resources to protect its soldiers from international prosecution over possible war crimes, it still has an international obligation to investigate and prosecute for violations of the law of war.  International, Palestinian, and Israeli human rights groups demand that the Israeli government investigate various allegations and hold those responsible accountable.

For example, the BBC reported on four year old Samar Abed Rabbu.  BBC’s Christian Fraser met Samar in an Egyptian hospital.  According to her uncle, an Israeli tank stopped in front of the family’s home in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza.  Israeli soldiers ordered the family out into the street.  Then, an Israeli soldier opened fire; killing Samar’s two sisters and injuring her grandmother.  Samar was shot in the back and the bullet hit her spine, making it unlikely that she will walk again.

According to Samar’s uncle, the soldiers were only 15 meters away and they were all carrying white flags.  Her uncle insists that this was a deliberate targeting of civilians and thus a war crime.  

The BBC went into Gaza to look for Rabbu’s family and found her father, Khalid Abed Rabbu.  Khalid’s account of the incident is similar to Rabbu’s uncle.  The BBC submitted a map of the incident, the time and date, and witness statements to the Israeli military, who promised to investigate the incident.

During the 22 day operation, Palestinian Ministry of Health, 1,314 Palestinians were killed. 412 were children under the age of 18, and 110 were women.  It is estimated that 65 percent of Palestinian casualties were civilians.  In contrast, 13 Israelis were killed during Operation Cast Lead.  Three civilians were killed by rockets fired from Gaza.  Ten soldiers were killed during the ground incursion; however, four were lost to “friendly fire.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Israel to Protect Its Soldiers From War Crimes Charges – 25 January 2009

Bloomberg – Israel Names Team to Defend Soldiers Against War-Crime Charges – 25 January 2009

CNN – Israel Prepares Legal Defense of Soldiers – 25 January 2009

Jerusalem Post – Cabinet Okays Legal Backing for Troops – 25 January 2009

Independent – A Shameful War: Israel in the Dock Over Assault on Gaza – 25 January 2009

Reuters – Israel Promise Troops Legal Backing Over Gaza War – 25 January 2009

BBC – New Evidence of Gaza Child Deaths – 22 January 2009

BBC – Gaza Father Finds Out Child Survived – 21 January 2009

BAGHDAD, Iraq– On December 21, 2008 the Iraq government announced plans to close Camp Ashraf within two months.  The Iraqi government assumed responsibility for the security of the camp from U.S. forces earlier this year.  On January 21, 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the government will expel all members of PMOI from the country.

For more than 20 years, members of the exiled organization People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) have lived in the camp, located north of Baghdad.  The camp was first opened in 1986, when members of the group fled Iran and were permitted to establish a base north of Baghdad to launch raids against Iran in support of Iraqi war efforts during the Iran-Iraq War.  The organization was also used by Saddam Hussein to suppress Shiite and Kurdish opposition in Iraq following the first Persian Gulf War.  Although PMOI claims it has renounced violence since 2001, Iraq, the United States and the European Union continue to classify PMOI as a terrorist organization.  Iraq has also accused the organization of planning suicide attacks targeting Iraqi security forces, which the organization has denied, calling the allegation a “sheer lie” on the part of the Iraqi government.

According to Iraqi National Security Adviser, Muwaffeq al-Rubaie, “over 3,000 inhabitants of Camp Ashraf have to leave Iraq and the camp will be part of history within two months.”  The Iraqi government has announced plans to close the camp on more than one occasion since the fall of Saddam Hussein;s Baathist government in 2003.  However, according to al-Rubaie, the recent decision to close the camp and the two month time table are “irreversible.”  Iraq maintains it will not allow terrorist groups to operate on Iraqi soil.

While the Iraqi government has stated that the inhabitants of the camp will not be expelled from Iraq by force, the government has not indicated where they will be permitted to reside after the two month deadline expires.  The government has stated that members of the PMOI will either be returned to Iran, at their own request, or to another country where they currently hold a passport of residence.  According to al-Rubai, currently 914 PMOI members do have passports of residency for a third country.

Amnesty International has urged the Iraqi government to classify members of PMOI as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.  Classifying members of the organization in this manner will preclude the Iraqi government from extraditing or forcibly returning people to their countries of origin where they may be subject to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or execution.

For more information, please see:

Gulf Daily News – Iraq Terror Clamp – 24 January 2009

Tehran Times – Iraq to Close MKO Camp in Two Months – 24 January 2009

Hartford Courant – Iraqi ACcuses Iranian Opposition Group of Planning Suicide Attack; Exiles Deny Allegation – 23 January 2009

Reuters – Iraq Says Will Shut Iran Rebel Camp in 2 Months – 23 January 2009