You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/02/03/isrlpa12603.htm
February 3, 2006
Dr. Ramadan Shalah
Secretary-General
Islamic Jihad Organization
Damascus
Dear Dr. Shalah,
Your
organization, Islamic Jihad, has claimed responsibility for all six
suicide bombing attacks against civilians inside Israel over the past
year, most recently on January 19, 2006. These attacks have killed
twenty civilians and wounded scores, many of them seriously. Islamic
Jihad has also claimed responsibility for firing locally-made rockets
at towns in Israel, including an attack today, February 3, that injured
a seven-month-old baby.
Attacks that target civilians or cause indiscriminate harm
to civilians, regardless of the perpetrator, constitute atrocities that
flagrantly violate the most fundamental principles of international
humanitarian law. The unequivocal prohibition against such attacks
applies equally whether such attacks are committed by agents of a
government or by armed groups, and without regard to the objectives of
those responsible. Human Rights Watch calls on the Islamic Jihad
organization to cease such attacks immediately and to declare that the
organization will not carry out attacks targeting civilians in the
future, under any circumstances.
Human Rights Watch is an international human rights
organization that documents and campaigns against violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law throughout the world. We have
for many years researched and spoken out against Israeli abuses in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories. These reports and public statements
are available in English and Arabic, and can be found on our website at
www.hrw.org.
The organization published an investigation into Palestinian suicide
bombing attacks against civilians which develops these legal arguments
in detail (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl-pa/).
The intentional killing of civilians, including reprisal attacks,
constitute war crimes when committed in situations of armed conflict,
and are crimes against humanity when conducted massively or
systematically. Those who commit crimes against humanity and war crimes
have individual criminal responsibility for their actions, and are
subject to universal jurisdiction – that is, all states are responsible
for bringing them to justice irrespective of where the crime was
committed and regardless of the nationality of the victim or
perpetrator.
Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the following
suicide bombing attacks against civilians in Israel over the past
twelve months.
- On January 19, 2006, a 22-year-old Palestinian
man, Sami Antar, from Nablus, detonated explosives on his body in a Tel
Aviv restaurant popular with immigrant workers, killing himself and
wounding more than two dozen Israelis. Islamic Jihad released a
videotape to the media claiming responsibility.
- On December 5, 2005, a Palestinian man whom Islamic
Jihad identified as Lutfi Amin Abu Sa`ada blew himself up in a shopping
center in the northern Israeli city of Netanya. The attack killed five
persons in addition to the bomber and wounded about forty, some
seriously.
- On October 26, 2005, 20-year-old Hassan Abu Zayid
carried out a suicide bombing attack in the northern town of Hadera,
killing six persons and wounding several dozen others. Islamic Jihad
spokesman Khadir Habib told the Associate Press that the Hadera bombing
was a “natural retaliation” for Israel’s killing of Luay Saadi, the
Islamic Jihad leader in the northern West Bank, two days earlier.
- On August 28, 2005, a suicide bomber blew himself up at
a crowded bus station in the southern city of Beersheba, after security
guards prevented him from boarding a bus. The blast killed the bomber
and wounded ten persons, several critically. According to news reports,
both Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed
responsibility for this attack.
- On July 12, 2005, an 18-year-old Palestinian man, Ahmad
Sami Abu Khalil, carried out a suicide bombing attack at a shopping
center entrance in the northern city of Netanya. The attack, claimed by
Islamic Jihad, killed four civilians and one soldier besides the bomber
and injured thirty. According to the Reuters news agency, in his
videotaped message subsequently released by Islamic Jihad, Abu Khalil
said, “We reiterate our commitment to calm, but we have to retaliate
for Israeli violations.”
- On February 25, 2005, `Abdallah Sa`id Badran, a
21-year-old Palestinian from Deir al-Ghusun village near Tulkarm, blew
himself up outside a Tel Aviv nightclub, killing five persons besides
himself and wounding about fifty, at least six of them critically. The
next day Al-Jazeera aired a videotape message from Badran that was
reportedly sent by the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Jerusalem
Brigades (Saraya al-Quds).
The Islamic Jihad organization’s military wing,
Saraya al-Quds, has also carried out rocket attacks against towns
inside Israel, in addition to the attack on Kibbutz Karmiya earlier
today, according to the organization’s alquds.net website. A January
14, 2006 website entry, for example, claims that the Saraya al-Quds
fired five rockets towards Sderot in reprisal for the assassination of
three Islamic Jihad members in Jenin. An entry on January 3, 2006,
asserted that the group fired six rockets at Sderot. It is impossible
to target these weapons with any accuracy or precision, making their
use against or near civilian-populated areas a violation of
international humanitarian law, which prohibits the use of weapons that
cannot be directed at specific military objectives.
You and other Islamic Jihad spokespersons frequently claim
that attacks by your organization are responses to Israeli attacks
against Palestinian civilians, and that they are a legitimate form of
resistance to occupation. Under international law attacks that target
civilians or cause indiscriminate harm to civilians constitute crimes
of the gravest sort. The absolute prohibition against targeting
civilians extends to acts of reprisal for attacks against one’s own
civilians, as well as acts that a group claims are intended to resist
occupation. There can never be any justification for such blatant
disregard of these fundamental humanitarian principles.
We strongly urge the Islamic Jihad organization to adopt
and publicize a policy of full respect for humanitarian law principles,
and immediately stop the practice of targeting civilians or launching
indiscriminate attacks that claim civilian lives. We ask that you
publicly and unequivocally call on the military wing of your
organization, the Al-Quds Brigades, and any other groups or individuals
acting on behalf of Islamic Jihad, to desist from any attacks or acts
of reprisal that deliberately target civilians, or cause them
disproportionate harm.
Sincerely,
Sarah Leah Whitson
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa division
Human Rights Watch
cc. Khadir Habib
Spokesperson
Islamic Jihad Organization
Gaza