Issue No. 602
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5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 Region |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
When the judge is the enemy
On tuesday, after lengthy manoeuvring, the Israeli High Court of Justice unanimously approved an earlier decision by the Israeli army to deport two innocent Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.
The two, Intisar Ajouri and her brother Kifah, were arrested nearly six weeks ago. The Israeli army, acting on a decision by the internal security cabinet, subsequently decided to deport them from Nablus, where they live, to the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military prosecutor struggled to produce hard evidence indicting the two. Their only crime being that their brother, Ali Ajouri, was a suicide bomber.
Finding no real evidence, the Israeli army reportedly tortured the two into confessing that they had foreknowledge of their brother's intentions to carry out a suicide bomb attack inside Israel. A confession they argued was made under duress.
Their Jewish lawyer, Lea Tsemel, argued, rather convincingly, that the defendants ought to be tried and, if found guilty, sentenced in the West Bank.
She argued elaborately that deportation to the Gaza Strip, which is not accessible to Palestinians in the West Bank, constituted a harsh, collective punishment and was in clear contravention of international law.
The court, made up of a panel of nine judges, some of whom are affiliated with extremist Jewish groups and right-wing political parties, dismissed this argument as "too idealistic".
The military prosecutor, a mouthpiece for the Israeli army, argued that the deportation of relatives and family members of Palestinian bombers and guerrillas would create an effective deterrent and help prevent resistance attacks against Israeli targets.
However, this court has disregarded whether defendants slated for deportation were innocent or guilty, as long as the deportation itself served the role of deterrence. Indeed, throughout the court session, the overwhelming emphasis was on "deterrence" not "culpability" or "guilt".
The defendants themselves reacted to the ruling with a combination of defiance and serenity. "We never expected justice from a court where the judge is the enemy. A court that oversees the killing of innocent children and civilians and does nothing about it is not qualified to issue a just ruling. It is a high court of injustice, not justice," said Intisar Ajouri. Her brother Kifah viewed the ruling as "purely political". "This decision by the Israeli court is dictated by political considerations and has nothing to do with legality and justice," he added. "Is the reign of Israeli state terror to which we have been subjected for the past 35 years legal?" Palestinian officials described the Israeli court ruling as "a war crime." "This is a war crime, it is a sad and black day for human rights," said PA official Saeb Erekat.
According to the second Geneva convention, transferring or deporting inhabitants of an occupied territory by the occupying power is considered a war crime.
The Israeli judicial system, however, doesn't really pay any attention to international law when it collides with Israeli policies. In their, often desperate, attempts to evade or sidestep international law, Israeli leaders often come up with the far-fetched argument that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are "disputed" not "occupied" territories. In other cases, the Israeli government concocts wild interpretations of international law, using euphemistic labels in reference to its otherwise harsh and illegal actions.
In this particular case, the government argued that the deportation of the two Palestinians constituted only an "assigned residence" rather than a deportation. Intisar and Kifah Ajouri were due to be deported to Gaza on Wednesday, 4 September. Some of their relatives voiced the fear that Israeli troops might resort to murdering them while in exile in Gaza.
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