Israel gets High Court nod for "targeted killings"

[Shammu]

Israel gets High Court nod for "targeted killings"
Thu 14 Dec 2006 10:36:47 GMT

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Israel's top court on Thursday rejected a demand by civil liberties groups for a blanket ban on the military's "targeted killings" of Palestinian armed faction leaders, saying the tactic could be justified under laws of war.

Using air strikes or covert commandos, Israel has tracked and killed many scores of Palestinian militants during 6 years of fighting, missions that have also regularly caused civilian casualties. The practice has drawn global censure and charges that Israel is pursuing an illegal assassinations policy.

While Israel has largely put the controversial operations on hold as part of a Gaza Strip truce declared last month, defence officials say they are still the best last resort for preventing attacks by militants who cannot be easily caught and prosecuted.

The High Court of Justice, rejecting petitions filed by a pro-Palestinian lobby and another rights group in 2002, ruled that the state's arguments could have legal merit in some cases.

"Arrest, investigation, and trial are not means that can always be used. At times, no such possibility exists; at times it involves such a great risk to the lives of (Israeli) troops, that it is not required," the three-justice panel said.

"Thus it is decided that it cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing is prohibited according to customary international law, just as it cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing is permissible according to customary international law."

Palestinians cried foul at the ruling.

"Assassination is a form of crime that cannot be justified," said Saeb Erekat, an adviser to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who shares power with Hamas Islamists sworn to Israel's destruction. "It is unbecoming of a nation state."

ISRAEL EYES FOREIGN LAWSUITS

A senior Israeli jurist voiced hope that the High Court ruling would help military commanders fend off a slew of private war crimes lawsuits filed against them in foreign courts.

"A ruling of this kind provides enormous protection," deputy state attorney Shai Nitzan told Israel's Army Radio.

A pro-Palestinian group tried to have the former chief of Israel's armed forces, Moshe Yaalon, arrested as he visited New Zealand last month, but was blocked by local legal authorities.

According to an Israeli newspaper, the group wanted Yaalon tried for ordering a 2002 air strike on a Gaza apartment block that killed a Hamas chief along with at least 14 civilians.

In its ruling, the High Court laid out parameters for what it deemed acceptable "collateral damage" in such circumstances.

"Attacks should be carried out only if the expected harm to innocent civilians is not disproportional to the military advantage to be achieved by the attack," it said.

"For example, shooting at a terrorist sniper shooting at soldiers or civilians from his porch is permitted, even if an innocent passer-by might be harmed ... However, that is not the case if the building is bombed from the air and scores of its residents and passers-by are harmed.

"Between these two extremes are the hard cases. Thus, a meticulous examination of every case is required."

Palestinian rights groups say almost 400 militants have been tracked and killed by Israeli forces in missions that also claimed the lives of more than 200 innocent bystanders. Israel says its forces are under orders to target militants only.]Israel gets High Court nod for "targeted killings"[/url]