This Is Clarification?

ICRC clarifies



Sir, - Moshe Dann's op-ed of July 24 "How settlements became 'illegal,'" contained a number of misrepresentations with regard to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), two of which I would like to put right.

First, the ICRC did not "make up the law" which considers the settlements to be illegal. This law, also known as the law of occupation, is part of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the law applicable in times of armed conflict, including situations of belligerent occupation. Occupation law is encoded in the Hague Regulations of 1907 and in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, both drafted and agreed upon by States.

[this is obfuscation. what Moshe meant was that in the 1970s, no formal court or international legal body had delivered any judicial-like decision, so by adopting the position of "illegality" as regards Jewish communities, the ICRC was indeed 'making up the law']

The applicability of this law to the West Bank is widely accepted by the international community, including the UN. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of the civilian population of the occupying power into the occupied territory. The establishment of settlements, as a form of population transfer into occupied territory, is therefore forbidden under IHL.

[no, the "establishment of settlements" is not a form of transfer. moving Jews out of territory assigned to them by the League of Nations as their national homeland, while assuring them of the 'right of close settlement on the land', as the Mandate reads, is true transfer as the sometimes successful attempts by Arabs to kick Jews out of their homes during the Mandate period was ethnic cleansing]

Second, the ICRC has never condemned or accused Israel of "illegal occupation" because it is not the role of IHL or the mandate of the ICRC to make determinations regarding the legality of occupation; this is another area of international law (known as jus ad bellum) which is governed by the UN Charter. Once a situation exists which factually amounts to an occupation, however, as is undoubtedly the situation in the West Bank, the ICRC works for the faithful application of the relevant rules of IHL in accordance with the mandate given to it by the international community.

[ah, "settlements" are "illegal" but the "occupation is not "illegal"? does Monsieur Wettach think we are idiots?]

The ICRC will therefore continue its dialogue with the Israeli authorities on the issue of the settlements and their humanitarian implications while strictly adhering to its humanitarian, neutral, impartial and independent nature.

PIERRE WETTACH

Head of ICRC Delegation

Israel Occupied & Autonomous Territories Tel Aviv