Israel’s Gaza Genocide Redux
by Professor Francis A. Boyle
I delivered the following Oral Argument before the Kuala Lumpur War
Crimes Tribunal Commission for the Indictment of Israel for
genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity on November 21, 2012
during Israel’s genocidal Operation Cast Lead II against the 1.7 million
Palestinians living in Gaza. The analysis and conclusions remain the
same today during Cast Lead III.
May it please the Commission:
You
have heard the statutory declaration and evidence provided so far for
your information. My purpose here now is to explain the law to which
you will apply the facts in formulating your indictments. Of course,
it is for you to decide whether or not to indict, or whom to indict. But
you have already received my recommendation that you should indict the
state of Israel, and named officials that
I have already provided to you that will be found again in the
transcript of the proceedings, including and especially General Yaron
for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. And you've heard
evidence and testimony from all of our witnesses on
those three points. Now let me briefly review the witnesses and what
they said from a legal prospective, so that you can formulate your
opinions of law in your indictment.
Palestinians in Gaza
First
of all, with respect to the Al-Sammounis testimony, Salah and Mahmoud.
They are both from the Gaza Strip. Now, we have to understand,
the Gaza Strip is under military occupation by Israel. And Israel is
the belligerent occupant of the Gaza Strip. That means, at all times,
Israel is governed by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 that protects
civilians and the Hague Regulations of 1907
on the Laws of Customs of Warfare. You can find that also in the
Chapter 5 for the Tribunal that is roughly based and patterned upon
them.
Under
the Fourth Geneva Convention, the two Al-Sammounis are absolutely
protected. They are what are known as protected person. They are
civilians.
Their rights are inviolable by Israel, or anyone else. In fact,
protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention have more rights
that legally are more perfectly protected than you or I have. That is
the gospel truth under International Law.
There
are 147 articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention that were supposed to
protect the Al-Sammounis and everyone else in Gaza. And if you
look at all of the human rights reports that have been produced on
Gaza, you will see that Israel has violated almost each and every one of
these 147 articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention with respect to the
civilian population of Gaza such as the Al-Sammounis.
Now,
Israel has maintained that it is no longer the occupying power in Gaza
and therefore is not bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention and
the 1907 Hague Regulations because it withdrew its troops from Gaza.
That does not change the situation legally. They are dead wrong.
Professor Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur for Palestine, appointed
by the UN Human Rights Council itself had said, "No,
this is nonsense, Israel is still the occupying power in Gaza." His
predecessor, Professor John Dugard of South Africa, has also taken for
the same position. The International Committee of Red Cross has taken
the same position. Why is that the case?
Because the test of belligerent occupancy is control. You could read this for example, in
U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10: The Laws of Land Warfare, that set
forth the basic rules of Customary International Law applicable to all
States in the world, including Israel and the United States.
Control of Gaza
Who
controls Gaza today? We have heard testimonies Gaza is like an "open
air prison." Gaza is like a concentration camp. Gaza is surrounded
at sea where it is currently being bombarded today by the Israeli navy –
as we speak. Gaza City, a city, is being bombarded by a navy. And it
is controlled by Israel on both the east and the south and surrounded by
a fence. As for the border of Egypt, it
is completely cut off. Israel bombs that border. They've just destroyed
all the tunnels. In addition, despite his rhetoric, President Morsi of
Egypt has not opened up that border. It is still sealed because the
Egyptian military, that really runs Egypt today,
is in cahoots with Israel and the United States and keeps the Egyptian
border sealed.
The
only exception, just announced two days ago, President Morsi has said,
"I will allow the evacuation of severely injured Palestinians through
the Rafah crossing into Egypt to get medical care. " But other than
that, the Egyptian border is sealed as well, and this has been the case
since the imposition of the siege of Gaza by Israel starting in 2007
with the support of Egypt and the United States
and the entire European Union. They are all accomplices in the siege of
Gaza.
And you have in your bundle Volume 2, tab M, a document produced by my office:
Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Crime of Genocide, Gaza vs. Israel.
As of this summer, it's quite comprehensive on all these issues. Of
course, it doesn't take into account the recent Cast Lead II, as I will
call it, that goes on
today as we speak.
But
clearly it is Israel that exercises control over Gaza. They bomb it.
They artillery shell it. They attack it. They invade it at will. So,
of course, they exercise control over Gaza, and for that reason, they
remain the belligerent occupant of Gaza subject to the Fourth Geneva
Convention of 1949 that protects all the civilians in Gaza, and the
Hague Regulation of 1907 that also protects the land
and the environment of Gaza as well as to some extent, the civilians.
So, this is the legal regime applicable to Gaza.
During
the course of Mr. Al-Sammouni's testimony, Commissioner Chossudovsky
asked the question of "command and control" and I did want to address
that briefly: Who is responsible for war crimes, crimes against
humanity and genocide? And my brief develops the argument, 55 pages
long, about why Israel is committing genocide in Gaza today as we speak
since at least the time they imposed the siege of Gaza
after Hamas had won a democratic election in Gaza.
But
to get back to command and control. Of the tests under International
Law, the laws of war is that of command responsibility, that is,
if a commander of troops or others in the field, whether those
commanders are civilian or military personnel, either order war crimes
or crimes against humanity or genocide or committed themselves or know
that their subordinates are ordering it or committing
it themselves and refused to prevent it or stop it or punish it, they
themselves are responsible for those atrocities - for those acts of war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
And
as the situation is in Gaza today, when you have war crimes that are
widespread or systematic, they also become crimes against humanity.
And what we see in Gaza, certainly in the 2006 invasion, then Operation
Cast Lead 2008 and 2009, and now Operation Cast Lead II in 2012, is
widespread systematic war crimes against the civilian population that
clearly constitute crimes against humanity and
even beyond that, genocide, for the reasons cited in my brief that is
part of the record.
And I also have distributed to you and introduced now formally into evidence my article,
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. You already have that but I'll introduce it.
And
then the recommendation I personally put into the hands of the late
President Arafat that he sue Israel for committing genocide against
Palestine and the Palestinians at the International Court of Justice.
And I have also given this proposal, this recommendation, to President
Abbas. But because of enormous bullying, threats, intimidation
inflicted upon them, I don't think they're going to
do it, though I stand by ready to receive those instructions. That
means it's really up to you to defend the Palestinians because they're
not really in a position to defend themselves.
Palestinians Rejected by the I.C.C.
Indeed,
after Operation Cast Lead, I recommended to President Abbas that
Palestine accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,
which President Abbas did do. And what happened? Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, the
ICC prosecutor threw it out and said, "Well, it's not for me to
determine whether Palestine is a state," despite the fact that Palestine
had de jure diplomatic relations with 133 states
and also state membership in UNESCO, a U.N. specialized agency. Still
Mr. Moreno-Ocampo this coward and this hypocrite had the gall to just
throw aside Palestine's acceptance of jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court and to investigate Israel for
war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
And
there we stand today even when the Palestinians file a valid complaint
with the International Criminal Court, the ICC refuses to defend
them. And Mr. Moreno-Ocampo would not even lift one finger to help
them. Not one finger in their moment of desperation. He is truly a
despicable human being for this. And for this reason, we turn to you
five Commissioners to act to protect the Palestinians
when the ICC prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo, refused even to lift one finger
for them.
West Bank
Now,
we come to the testimony of Mr. Alissawi. He's from Bethlehem, the
West Bank. And let me again briefly explain to you the legal status
of the West Bank and Jerusalem and the regime of International Law that
applies.
The
West Bank too is occupied territory. All of it. This A-B-C baloney is
nonsense. This is just an apartheid regime set up by Israel that
is in violation of the Apartheid Convention of 1973. And apartheid is a
crime against humanity. The fact is Israel remains the belligerent
occupant of the West Bank. It is governed by the Four Geneva Conventions
and the 1907 Hague Regulations, and every Palestinian
living on the West Bank is a protected person. Their rights are sacred
under the International Law. They have more rights than you and I have.
And yet Israel has violated each and every 147 Articles of that
Convention with impunity.
Why? Because they have the backing of the United States of America,
the most powerful country in the world. So, of course Mr. Moreno-Ocampo
copped out
and refused to help them.
Indeed,
the International Court of Justice accepted this argument in its
Advisory Opinion on Israel's wall on the West Bank. We have that
Advisory
Opinion in the bundle of materials. If you read that Advisory Opinion,
you will see the World Court rejected each and every argument Israel has
ever made to maintain that it is not a belligerent occupant on the West
Bank; that is not governed by the Four Geneva
Conventions of 1949; that it is not governed by the 1907 Hague
Regulations. The World Court rejected all of it. All those
arguments-fully, completely. They considered them all and rejected every
one of them. Israel does not even have a leg to stand on. And
there is no argument on the West Bank that's even plausible. No
argument.
Indeed,
the World Court ruled that the settlements violated the Fourth Geneva
Convention. Any violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention is
a war crime. And when they are widespread and systematic as these
settlements are, they become a crime against humanity. And the settlers
are committing war crimes - all 600,000 of them. They are war criminals,
except for the children who legally are not capable
of formulating criminal intent.
I
would ask you, in drawing up your indictment, to bring John Does for
every settler living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as war
criminals.
They should all be prosecuted, each and every one of them. They go in
there and knowingly steal Palestinian land in violation of Hague
Regulations of 1907. They steal this land. They destroy the olive trees,
as we've heard. They steal the water. They rape
and pillage Palestine to support their own lifestyle and in pursuit of
their fanatical dreams of religious exclusivism that I don't believe
people of any religion or good faith or good will should tolerate or
condone. The Bible had no right to give Palestine
to the Jews. Palestinians had lived there even before the Bible was
written.
We
heard testimony about the use of dum-dum bullets against Mr. Alissawi.
Dum-dum bullets are clearly illegal and criminal in this context,
armed conflict, going back to the 19th century. Everyone knows it. Even
the Unites States of America government takes the position that dum-dum
bullets are illegal and their use is a war crime.
So,
that is sort of the lowest common denominator, isn't it? The United
States government. Israel in its behavior is even beneath and below
the criminal behavior that we've seen the United States government
perform around the world. To the best of my knowledge, I don't know of
any recent use of dum-dum bullets by the United States government. They
could do it, but generally speaking, it's a prohibited
weapon.
Jerusalem
Now,
with respect to Jerusalem, there has been discussion here on the status
of Jerusalem. I'm here to advise you on Jerusalem. Israel has
not one shred of right to Jerusalem.
They
said, "Oh, it's our eternal capital." No one believes that. Even the
United States government does not accept that. Obama said that in
his campaign in 2008 to appeal to the Jewish vote. But once he got
elected president, even President Obama does not maintain this
position. It is the official position in the United States Government
that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. And that
is why almost every government that has diplomatic relations with
Israel maintains their embassy in Tel Aviv and not Jerusalem. No one
recognizes that Israel has title to anything in Jerusalem - East
Jerusalem or West Jerusalem.
This
is because Resolution 181 provided that Jerusalem would be a special
International Trusteeship not under the control of either the Jewish
state or the Arab state called for in the Partition Resolution. No one
recognizes Israel has any right to Jerusalem. Period. Even America
does not. It's not the position of the executive branch of the United
States government, and has never been. The last
official articulation of our position on Jerusalem can be found in this
book. I will introduce this book into evidence:
Palestine, Palestinians, and International Law. I have an entire chapter here on the legal status of Jerusalem.
Even
George Bush Senior, when he was U.S. ambassador to the United Nation,
fully articulated this position as our Ambassador to the U.N., that
Israel does not have title to Jerusalem. So technically, again,
Jerusalem is occupied territory. All the Palestinians living there,
certainly in East Jerusalem, are protected persons. All the settlers
living in East Jerusalem are committing war crimes and
are war criminals, except for the children who are not old enough to
formulate criminal intent. These are war crimes. I've been there. I've
seen them. They steal the land. They expel the Palestinians. And that
process still goes on as we speak today, day in
and day out.
Torture
Mr.
Musleh from Bethlehem, again, part of the West Bank. He is a civilian -
not a guerrilla, not a fighter. He was tortured. Yes, torture -
a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, a serious war
crime mandating universal jurisdiction. I was all up and down Palestine,
both the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza myself in 1986. Torture was
rampant all over. I met many victims. They showed
me the signs of torture on their bodies.
Mr.
Musleh 's testimony is certainly consistent with what I saw in two
weeks travelling there. And when I went to protest this at the American
Embassy, the torture, the grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, the
attaché said to me, "Well, we are not going to get involved in Israel's
domestic affairs." It's astounding. It's an attaché at the American
Embassy at Tel Aviv.
I
said, "What do you mean their domestic affairs? Torture violates the
Fourth Geneva Convention. The United States government is a party the
Fourth Geneva Convention. Under the terms of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, we have an obligation to respect and ensure respect for that
convention in all circumstances, which means stopping Israel's
torture."
At
that point he didn't argue with me. He just said, "Well, you'll have to
take it up in Washington." Well, as we know, Washington is controlled
and dominated by Zionists. That's a total waste of time.
But
clearly Mr. Musleh's allegations of torture are consistent with my
investigation for two weeks, back in 1986. And again, where torture
is widespread and systematic, it becomes a crime against humanity. And
in addition, when you take a look at the Genocide Convention in this
context: Genocide consists of the following acts - causing serious
bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
Clearly
we have had widespread systematic torture against the Palestinians ever
since 1967 up until today, both in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
and the Gaza Strip. This has been documented by every human rights
organizations in the world, including Amnesty International which is
notoriously pro-Israel and pro-United States. And I say that having
spent four years on the Board of Directors of Amnesty
International USA. They are notoriously pro-Israel and pro- United
States. And yet, even Amnesty International has condemned their torture.
Professor Falk has condemned their torture in his reports as Special
Rapporteur. Professor Dugard, his predecessor,
has condemned this torture.
Children
Israel,
also with respect to Mr. Musleh's testimony on children, is a party to
the Children's Convention. And yet, they have abused Palestinian
children. They've tortured them, they've imprisoned them, and they’ve
deprived them of education. There are hundreds of Palestinian children
still being detained in Israeli prisons. The World Court ruled, in its
Advisory Opinion, that Israel is bound to apply
the Children's Convention to Palestinians in occupied territory. They
ruled that because it is a party to the Children's Convention. Israel
has violated almost each and every provision of the Children's
Convention when it comes to Palestinians children. That's
how pathetic that State is: They even torture and imprison children.
Water
We've
heard Mr. Musleh's testimony of the theft of the water, the main
aquifers, I've been there, I've seen this myself. The main aquifer
is, of course, on the West Bank, this is Palestinian water. They are
stealing the Palestinian water so that settlers, these war criminals,
can have swimming pools.
I
remember the first time I went to the Ariel settlement, in 1986, and
there was a Palestinian village down the road that was dying for lack
of water. And I followed the water pipe that had basically been cut off
up from the village to Ariel. Ariel had an Olympic-size swimming pool
for their war criminal-settlers. Meanwhile, the Palestinians were having
their water stolen and their village dying
so that war criminals could go swimming. I have read since then that
Ariel has produced two Olympic-size swimming pools. Israel does not have
one shred of right under the Hague Regulations of 1907 to one ounce of
this Palestinian water. And yet they are thirsting
the Palestinians to death.
And
this gets back to the Genocide Convention my colleague, Professor
Nijar, has pointed out, genocide means also "deliberately inflicting
on the group [here, Palestinians] conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." They're
thirsting them to death so that their war criminals-settlers can swim in
Olympic-size swimming pools. The olive groves, pillaged.
Outright pillage that goes on all the time. One indiscriminate gang
behavior by these war criminal-settlers with the full cooperation and
support of the Israeli government. And it is organized, it's systematic
and it's widespread. It's a crime against humanity
and a war crime.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The
testimony by Dr. Elkhatib dealing with the psychological conditions.
What the Genocide Convention says here? "Genocide - causing serious
bodily or mental harm to the members of the group." We have heard the
testimony here today, that the entire Palestinian population suffers
from post-traumatic stress disorder. I've been there, I've seen it
myself. Not just the children. Men, women, parents,
children. And especially the people in Gaza who are being bombarded and
killed and destroyed as we speak today.
The
report I heard this morning was 120 Gazans had been killed in this
murder in this Operation Cast Lead II. Where will this lead to? Where
will it end? Cast Lead I, 1,400 Palestinians were exterminated. In
2006, when Israel bombed Lebanon, they exterminated 1,200 Lebanese. Just
wiped them out. Absolutely no accountability at all. And again, that's
where you come in.
Tear Gas
Tear
gas: We have heard testimony of tear gas during the First Intifada. It
still goes on today. Israel uses special military-grade tear gas
against Palestinian civilians that they get from the United States and
the Republic of Korea, last I looked. We tried to stop it in the United
States - two factories manufactured it. We threatened to sue one of
them, and they stopped. We threatened to sue
the second, they didn't stop. We sued them and we lost. Why did we
lose all these cases on behalf of Palestinians in the United States?
Zionist control and domination of the U.S. Federal Judiciary.
I personally have been involved in litigation going back to the
Yaron case which I submitted into the record. That was the first
case ever filed in the entire world against an Israeli official for
perpetrating a massacre against Palestinians. Being my involvement in
these cases since then, I'm aware of only one
case Palestinians had won in the United States courts.
The only one
Meese v. P.L.O., Ramsey Clark, I did work with him. When the
Reagan administration tried to shut down the Palestinian Mission to the
United Nations organization in violation of U.N. Headquarters Agreement.
We did win that one. That's the only case I'm
aware of we've won. And it’s pretty much a waste of time for any
Palestinian to file any lawsuit in the Zionist controlled and dominated
United States. And I've been advised by my Canadian friends that Canada
isn't much better. So, we come to this Commission,
to this Court, for justice.
Sabra and Shatilla
Madam Abouardini and Anne K. Sunde on the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacre: I've already given you my essay on the
Yaron case, the first case ever on the Sabra and Shatila
massacre. I've already described to you our efforts, failed efforts to
do anything both in the United States and in Belgium, and I'm not aware
of any other Court where we've been able to get justice
for the victims of Sabra and Shatilla. So we're coming to this Court,
to this Commission. We are asking, certainly, to indict General Amos
Yaron for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for Sabra and
Shatilla; and at a minimum, at least, to list
Ariel Sharon as un-indicted co-conspirator, not that he isn't as guilty
as sin, but he is apparently in an irreversible coma, and for that
reason would be incapable of assisting in his defense.
And
for that reason under basic legal principles, you probably should not
indict him but you can certainly list him as an un-indicted
co-conspirator
for the Sabra and Shatilla massacre. You've expressed an interest in my
papers in this lawsuit. You can find them at Volume 5 of the
Palestine Yearbook of International Law 1989. It's in the article I gave you.
We
saw in the testimony by Anne Sunde where General Yaron was located, on
the building, on the hill, overlooking the camp which is completely
consistent with what I told you. He could see everything. Indeed, it
was his troops that completely surrounded these camps. The flares are
going off at night. He then ordered his troops to let the Phalange
militia to go in there to perpetrate the massacre.
The flares were going off at night so that they can see what they were
doing to carry out the massacre at night, figuring they had a limited
amount of time to carry out the massacre. So they were working day and
night to exterminate 3,500 completely innocent
Palestinians and some Lebanese as well- it's hard to figure out
precisely what their breakdown is, but mostly are, Palestinians, and
some Lebanese - all of them were completely unarmed.
And
as Anne Sunde pointed out, the United States government under Philip
Habib had given a formal pledge of protection to the P.L.O. that if
their soldiers abandoned the camps where they were protecting these
completely innocent civilians, the United States government would assure
their safety. And on that condition, the P.L.O. fighters pulled out and
moved off to Tunis.
Now
the Phalange militia, the Christian Phalange militia, was organized
under the Gemayel family. They were not part of the regular Lebanese
army. I have no information that the Lebanese army units were involved
in this massacre but the Christian Phalange militia were and when Bachir
Gemayal was assassinated, there's no evidence to believe that the
Palestinians assassinated Bachir Gemayal. Rumour
had it it might have been Syria, it might even have been Israel. We
really don't know. But no evidence Palestinians did it.
General
Yaron permitted the Christian Phalange to take out their revenge on the
completely innocent Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla. And
this was known by Prime Minister Begin and Defence Minister Ariel
Sharon - speaking of the chain of command - and Rafael Eitan, the Chief
of Staff, though the only survivors, as I've said, are General Yaron and
Sharon, and he is in irreversible coma.
But
again, the massacre took place with Yaron on that roof with the full
view of the camps, illuminated at night by flares and in communication
with the Phalange militia with their head Elie Hobeika there on the
roof with him with a walkie-talkie commanding them through the night on
how to carry out this massacre. And the United States government knew
from the get-go that a massacre was taking place.
And despite the Habib promise of protection, they refused to do
anything at all about it. They just let the massacre go on. Which raises
the question for you to resolve of complicity by the United States
government with the genocide at Sabra and Shatilla.
And I will urge you to consider that. And if you agree with me, to
indict the United States for complicity in the Sabra and Shatilla
massacre. Obviously these proceedings are directed against the state of
Israel and its highest level officials, but as Commissioners
Halliday and von Sponeck correctly pointed out, it is fair to consider
aiders and abettors by other states, and those other states that are
complicit. And certainly, we know for a fact, Israel gets most of its
weapons from the United States government that
it uses to kill and destroy and exterminate Palestinians.
Genocide - Health-care
Ms.
Nimat's testimony: Yes, Israel has consistently bombed and destroyed
hospitals, health-care facilities and have attacked professional
health-care people. Doctors, we've also heard the testimony, the
doctor from Bethlehem. They're deliberately targeted. We know they have
special protections under the Geneva Conventions. Israel couldn't care
less. Indeed, again, it raises the issue of genocide
- deliberately inflicting on a people conditions of life calculated to
bring about their physical destruction in whole and in part. How? By
destroying their whole health-care infrastructure. That's how. Including
their doctors, their nurses, their psychiatric
people, etc.
We've
already discussed Professor Manduca's testimony about the white
phosphorus. Again, even the United States government itself takes the
position that the use of white phosphorus in warfare is a war crime,
and at least says it's not supposed to do it. Notice, Israel doesn't
care. We all saw those picture in Cast Lead I, of Israel, live footage
on Press TV and Al-Jazeera, not the Zionist-controlled
and dominated U.S. news media - but live pictures of them raining white
phosphorus down on Gaza city and Gaza civilians. And it doesn't help to
say, "Well we're just using it as tracers for artillery," because it
just means that the artillery was aimed at
Gaza City and the Gaza civilians, which is also a war crime.
In
its resolution of 19 October 2000, the U.N. Human Rights Commission,
later Council, condemned Israel for committing war crimes and crimes
against humanity against the Palestinians. The Goldstone Report reached
the same conclusion. And Goldstone was a Zionist who was put in there
to do damage control for Israel. And that's exactly what he did. He
softened that Report as best he could. And even
the Goldstone Report found that they had committed war crimes and
crimes against humanity. The better report that does not do damage
control for Israel is the Dugard Report that is cited in my brief on
behalf of the League of Arab States. Professor Dugard
was the Special Rapporteur for Palestine, very courageous human being -
white resister to apartheid in South Africa, at threat to his life he
stood up against apartheid in South Africa. So if you're going to go for
a definitive account on Cast Lead I, you
should look at the Dugard Report and realise that Goldstone was put in
there to do damage control for Israel and he significantly watered down
his findings and conclusions. But even there, Goldstone found Israel had
committed war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Cast Lead I.
Crimes against Humanity
Where
do crimes against humanity come from? They come from the Nuremberg
Charter of 1945, drafted by the United States government and intended
to deal with the Nazi persecution of the Jews. And let me repeat this.
This is the idea of the United States of America to legally come to
grips with the Nazi persecution of the Jews. And what does Nuremberg
say? Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination,
enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any
civilian population or persecutions on political, racial or religious
grounds. Well, that's exactly what Israel does to the Palestinians.
These are Nazi crimes. We have to be honest about
it. They are not yet on a scale of 6 million dead Jews. But they are
moving in that direction. So it's not the number here, but it's the
quality of the offence. So we have to understand. Just applying the
Nuremberg definition intended to prosecute Nazi crimes
against Jews, these are the same types of crimes. Not the number, but
certainly the type.
Genocide
The
crime against humanity is a precursor to genocide. Indeed, it was
thought that crime against humanity was so serious that it should be
codified in an international treaty. That what Hitler and the Nazis did
to the Jews should be made a crime for any government to do to any
people. And so we had the 1948 Genocide Convention. And Article 2, if
you read the proposal I gave personally to President
Arafat to sue Israel for genocide, defines the crime of genocide, "any
of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in
part a national, ethnic or racial or religious group as such." So
notice, "in part." It does not have to be like Hitler
and the Nazis intending to exterminate all of the Jewish people. Nope.
The Genocide Convention tried to prevent this from happening and say,
"well, we have to set the threshold lower." If you have the intention to
destroy "in part" a national, ethnic, racial
or religious group as such, that qualifies as genocide. And clearly,
let's take "Cast Lead'', 1,400 exterminated Palestinians. The
International Court of Justice ruled that even the 7,000 exterminated
Bosnians at Srebrenica constituted genocide.
As documented by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe in his seminal work,
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Israel's genocidal policy
against the Palestinians have been "unremitting" extending from the very
foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 until today, and continuing
today as manifest in what we see in Gaza.
Even
the U.N. General Assembly President, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, the
former Foreign Minister of Nicaragua called "Cast Lead" 'genocide'.
And Brockmann should know. He was Foreign Minister of Nicaragua during
Reagan's war against Nicaragua when Reagan exterminated 35,000
Nicaraguans; and I was down there for a week up in the war zone
investigating
contra atrocities.
Certainly
Israel and the Zionist agencies, forces and terrorist groups have
committed genocide against the Palestinians that started on or
about 1948 and has continued apace until today in violation of the
Genocide Convention. Israel and its Zionist agencies and predecessors
have ruthlessly implemented a systematic, comprehensive military,
political, economic, campaign with intent to destroy
in substantial part the national, ethnical, racial and religious group
-- Jews versus Muslims and Christians -- constituting the Palestinian
people. This consists of killing members of the group, in violation of
Article 2(a), inflicting serious bodily and
mental harm to the Palestinian people in violation of Convention
Article 2(b). And also deliberately inflicting on the Palestinian people
conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction
in whole or in part.
Peace process
We
have heard a lot about the so-called peace process. This is a joke and a
fraud. I was the lawyer for the Palestinian delegation to the Middle
East Peace negotiations from the start in 1991 until Oslo was signed in
1993, both for the P.L.O., President Arafat, and my client the late,
great Dr. Haidar Abdul-Shaffi, who was Chair of those peace
negotiations. Israel never demonstrated one iota of good
faith in their negotiations with the Palestinians. Not one. Oslo was an
Israeli Bantustan proposal that was imposed upon President Arafat
despite the best advice I gave him, and the opposition of Dr.
Abdul-Shaffi. As he saw it, he had nothing better to do
at that time. I am certainly not here to criticize him. He was the
democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people, not Dr.
Abdul-Shaffi, certainly not me. But the bottom line is, I've been
involved in this process from the beginning.
There
is no peace process. This is a Palestinian surrender process. A
Palestinian Bantustanization process devised by the United States in
cooperation with Israel and with the full support of the European Union
and its member states. Indeed, shortly before he died in the summer of
2007, I called up Dr. Abdul-Shaffi, and he said to me -- this is the man
in charge of negotiating peace -- and he
said, "The Zionists have not changed their objectives since the Basel
Conference of 1897!" That was 2007.
In
the Basel conference, the Zionists made it clear: They want all of
Palestine - West Bank, Jerusalem, what is 1948 Israel. They want it all.
And they want it without Palestinians. And nothing has changed. That is
the objective of Netanyahu, and Barak and Peres, and Lieberman, that
I'm asking you here today to indict. And if we don't bring Israel, this
rogue criminal state, to justice, and if we
do not bring their leaders, their highest level officials to justice,
they will take all of Palestine and they will expel, disperse, and drive
out the Palestinians. And that is what is at stake here today. And that
is the task confronting you.
Conclusion
I
have gone all over the world seeking justice for the Palestinians for
the last 30 years. And I am now coming here today and asking you to
indict this criminal rogue state Israel, its aiders and abettors, and
its highest level officials, President Peres, Netanyahu, Lieberman,
Barak, its chiefs of staff and their predecessors, the rapist Katsav,
Olmert, Livni, Ashkenazi, and before that, General
Amos Yaron. Thank you.
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (phone)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)
francis a. boyle
