Criminalizing Civilians
Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:
' Criminalizing Civilians
In the days before the US-commanded forces unleashed the second siege of Falluja in November 2004, a quarter million women, children and old men fled the city, but males between the ages of 15 and 45 were denied passage. They were essentially criminalized and forced to remain in a zone upon which hell was about to descend. These poor souls were condemned to a legal category that philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls hominus sacres, those without rights who can be killed without it being called the murder of a human, homicide.
Israeli leaders have a decision to make. After the IDF’s devastating losses at Bint Jabeil on Wednesday, the Washington Post Foreign Service reported this statement from former Mossad officer Yossi Alpher: “I dare say, based on what we’ve seen so far, these may be the best Arab troops we’ve seen so far.” An Nahar today reported that, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon proclaimed: “Everyone who is still in south Lebanon is linked to Hizbullah, we have called on all who are there to leave.” He then suggested that “maximum firepower has to be used.” As justification, he cited the meeting in Rome, from which “we have in effect obtained the authorization to continue our operations until Hisbullah is no longer present in southern Lebanon.”
Look at this logic: since Israel has asked civilians to leave, any that disobeyed have forfeited their status as civilians. Because the United States and its British followers have blocked the resolution to stop the killing, Israel will continue until Hezbollah “is no longer present.” But remember Hezbollah has been redefined to include all those “still in south Lebanon.” This crude logic renders all the people of southern Lebanon hominus sacres.
A serious war crime may be imminent. The responsibility to protect civilians does not end when an invading army asks them to clear out. An Nahar also reported that hundreds of people were trapped in southern villages. Moreover, there is evidence that some who tried to flee north in cars have been targeted.
On his web log informedcomment.com, Juan Cole argued on Monday that since Hezbollah fighters cannot effectively aim their rockets, and since they must understand they are most likely to hit civilians, they are therefore guilty of war crimes themselves. Hezbollah leaders would undoubtedly respond that they are not intentionally targeting civilians. From the beginning of the war, Israeli leaders have justified the deaths of Lebanese civilians by claiming that they also never target civilians; it is simply that Hezbollah fights from civilian areas and there is a lot of collateral damage when they are targeted.
All of this is bad enough, but what may be in store if the frustrated IDF begins to treat all people in south Lebanon as enemies will be a war crime of a different magnitude. In most past wars, the victors had the luxury of telling the story, and prosecuting the war crimes. In this war, the eyes of the world are squarely fixed on what is about to happen. Israel’s powerful alley may be able to prevent prosecutions of its decision makers, but all will know what decision they made. Most importantly the Arab World we know, and will not forget. Israel has a decision to make. '
Patrick McGreevy
Beirut'
posted by Juan Cole @ 7/28/2006 12:09:00 AM
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8 Comments:
Haim's position is as ridiculous as that taken by FEMA et al during Katrina: "we told you to get out, if you didn't get you deserve what's coming your way." Tough shit if you stayed to take care of your sick mother who couldn't move. Too bad if you didn't have transportation.
Quite apart from the fact that no invading army can -- legally -- ask the civilian population to clear out so they can kill with impunity, it just doesn't work that way with the poor, the infirm, those who have heard that the Israelis are attacking convoys on their way out etc. etc. They may have legitimate reasons to stay behind, and as any civilian population they are to be protected by an invading army.
what's going on with the UN resolution passed today? what does it all mean?
"This crude logic renders all the people of southern Lebanon hominus sacres. "
Israel makes frequent use of two logical sleights-of-hand. One I call "temporary barbarism." The other is an assumed status of sanctified nation which explains the national policy of delenda est goyim."
Temporary barbarism is the process where the Israeli military commits atrocites which would permanently brand other nations as barbaric, yet where Israel is considered, the usual practice is to turn that blind eye. If some upstart, such as France, tries to apply universal principles of human rights to Israel, the Zionists have at the ready their full arsenal of anti-Semitic branding weapons.
Temporary barbarism is a technique which Israel, (the light unto nations) and only Israel may use. Otherwise, it is hypocrisy.
The other method, delenda est goyim comes from the core logic which defines Israel (the light unto nations, the only true democracy, the nation which makes the desert bloom, the refuge for Holocaust survivors, the moral compass of the world, mantra, mantra, wretch, wretch, vomit, vomit).
The idea at play here is that Israel has moral superiority by definition. Any nation that challenges this holy notion is, by definition, inherently evil. Israel is beyond reproach.
Ergo, to challenge Israel to to announce your pending status as hominus acres.
Ergo, delenda est goyim.
I know. I know. The actions of the the IDF do not represent Jewish attitudes nor even the public in Israel. But, isn't it time for this so-called moral majority to speak up? Otherwise, one might think, but not say out loud, that they secretly support the ideas presented here.
Dear Professor Cole
One of the things that happened in Warsaw during the Ghetto uprising was that a narrative survived.
If a population is in fear of a genocidal attack then one of the things that prevents the other side from acting is the possibility of a contemporaneous record.
This can be supplied by reporters, TV crews, aid workers, and ordinary people who write manuscripts.
If they can identify any of the units taking part there will always be some officers who will face trial at a war crimes court.
They worry that somewhere there is a memory stick, or a copybook with a narrative that will hang them.
Only one copy of the Wannsee Protokol survived.
I am only writing to thank Prof. Cole and all his contribtors for the information and comments on this blog. I am an American resident of Beirut, currently in the evacuation process, and I value your news and insights more than you can imagine. I have never been more disappointed in the leadership of my country than I am now.
Robert
www.badtimesbeirut.blogger.com
Well, I finally decided that when Israelis and their apologists in the media claim that they do not attack civilians, they aren't lying. They don't attack civilians. They just blow up the shit where the civilians always happen to be. You know, like their vehicles, roads, bridges, clinics, schools, mosques, shops and homes.
Hey, it's not the IDF's fault if those civilians have nowhere else to go. It's not Israel's fault that in order to flee the war zone, the civilians have to ride in vans and cross bridges. It's not Israel's fault that when they're blown half to bits they have to hitch a ride in an ambulance.
Hell it's no more Israel's fault than it is Hezbollah's fault when a civilian happens to wander under one of their katyushas. It's the damn civilian's fault, naturally. Like it was Kennedy's fault to drive right past the spot where Oswald happened to be shooting. It's bad timing! Not war crimes!
Of course, one might question Israel's claim in light of the fact that they are fighting a militia, and the infrastructure of that militia happens to be the very same roads, bridges, vans, trucks, houses, schools, clinics, workshops and markets that their families and neighbors use. One might deem it cynical to fight a militia in its own neighborhoods and then claim that blowing up their families is an accident. Those families are just supposed to jump into their transporter chambers and beam themselves to safety, right?
It's interesting indeed to note the confusion wrought by MSM coverage. For instance, the invasion of Lebanon was not because of Katyusha attacks. Those did not come out of Lebanon (as opposed to Gaza) until after the Israelis started bombing infrastructure and positions all over Lebanon. No, the original provocation was the capture of two IDF soldiers, taken as they have been taken before and again, to use as an exchange for Lebanese prisoners still held by the Israelis. Israel is invading Lebanon and trying to destroy "hezbollah" because it can't deal with the shia population of southern Lebanon-- or at least can't walk in and walk all over them until the Hez is gone.
Unfortunately, the Hez won't be gone until the Shia themselves are gone. So, I guess killing their kids and women, blowing up their homes, shops, schools and mosques is a good way to terrorize them enough to get them to move. With the Shia either cleansed from the region or stripped of their only defenses, Lebanon won't have much to say when Israel decides it needs a self-patrolled buffer along the Syrian/Lebanese border and gosh, how about some water rights on the Litani River?
So, let's stop accusing either side of targeting civilians. Why, both sides are just targeting infrastructure. Either the infrastructure of terror, or the infrastructure of aggression and occupation. Those pesky civilians just keep getting in the way.
"Wyvern said...
Just a technical note for non-Latinists: It's 'homines sacres' not 'hominus'."
Uh, NASCAR is my native language. Thanks for the help.
How does one say "Testicles in hand, the heart and mind soon follow."
It strikes me as odd that there is so much concern about killing civilians and the idea of killing combatants seems to be A-OK, and in many people's minds, necessary. No concerns whatsoever, no matter which side.
Well, last night I got thinking, and if I could wave a magic wand and make the Israelis and Lebanese instantly switch weapons - I am certain the fighting would go on, and the Israelis would fire rockets and the Lebanese would bomb northern Israeli towns and cities and villages into rubble. And then the death toll would even out, but I doubt when things were perfectly "even" that either side would stop the violence.
It is, of course, human nature to want revenge and retribution for whatever wrongs has been done to one or one's loved ones. But it will never bring peace and stability, short of genocide. That has worked in the past, but I don't think in today's world it will work, simply because of INFORMATION.
Now, combine that above "fact" with another fact in our world today: we have the potential to wipe our entire species right off the planet with nuclear bombs.
And here is one more basic historical fact: never in the history of the world have we developed weapons and then decided not to use them (eventually).
So, it seems clear to me: we MUST stop using violence against ANYONE to get what we want, even in the face of violence coming from them. We must see all war violence as war crimes. We must stop doing WAR.
This does not mean we do NOTHING or make any efforts to stop criminals from using violence: we must capture them and lock them up for the rest of their lives (with no torture or abuse or death penalty - since, we have adopted NON VIOLENCE always). It does not mean that people will not die from violence. Many of them will die horrible deaths, that is a fact that will never change. It does mean we will make every effort to capture and restrain the criminals, and bring them to trial, no matter who they happen to be. It does mean that we will abondon revenge and retribution, no matter how justified. It does mean that LESS people will die than if we do war. Way Less. It does not mean we will not need a military, but we sure as hell don't need the size we have now, or the number of weapons we have now. That just sets us up for war.
We must use our brains and talents to stop violence before it even starts (as much as possible). We must accept that there are crazy people born who are bent towards sick, sick, sick behavior over which they have no control. We have to lock them up to protect them and protect our world - at least until we find a cure. (People like Hinkley should never be let out of jail!)
And, for anyone who thinks this is pipe dream that will never work, just take a look at South Africa and how things are turning out there.
Hate breeds hate.
Violence breeds violence.
War is a total failure of human intelligence, human compassion and human imagination.
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