A Red-faced Red Cross

There is an oped in Haaretz (where else?) by the head of the ICRC delegation in Israel arguing

...contrary to what is claimed in the Levy report, it is manifestly clear that the West Bank is occupied by Israel...Furthermore, concerning the settlements in the West Bank, it has to be emphasized that Article 49 (6 ) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits a state from transferring parts of its own civilian population to territory it occupies, does not merely prohibit the occupying state from forcefully transferring parts of its population; it also prohibits any action by the occupier which facilitates such transfer.  The ICRC commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention makes clear that Article 49 (6 ), like the convention as a whole, aims to protect the local population in the occupied territory and not the population of the occupying state. Furthermore, international humanitarian law prohibits any action by an occupying power aimed at altering the intrinsic characteristics of the occupied territory, including any measures that affect its demographic, cultural or social composition.

My comment left there:

This is a stupid article.  Of course a territory can be occupied, but legally or illegally is the question.  I am at the present occupying the chair I am seated in.  So what?  What Schaerer is trying to prove, that Israel is engaged in "illegality", is a flop.  Without referring to the history of the claims to sovereignty, one would never know that what happened in 1939, i.e., the illegal move by Gt. Britian to alter the terms of the Mandate by the League of Nations, followed by the Arab rejection of Partition, to the annexation of Judea & Samaria by Jordan, the ongoing terror since 1947 and the threat of war in 1967, which all lead to a legal justification for Israel to occupy Judea and Samaria, to facilitated "close Jewish settlement" therein, including the use of "stae and waste lands".  There is no crime of "settlement" involved and the defensive war Israel was required to wage gives Israel all rights to be in the area.  The throw-in of "transferring" is ridiculous as Jews lived in the areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza for centuries prior to 1947-49 and it was only because of a policy of ethnic cleansing practiced by Arabs during the Mandate and the War of Independence - Schaerer knows of those illegal  acts, does he not? - that Jews were not there in 1967.

We Jews are returning, not transferring oursleves or being transferred.

 

I think the Red Cross should be red-faced after this travesty of law and history.

^

Do You Support Israel's MDA? Think Again

From Haaretz:-

Magen David Adom pledges to implement exit from West Bank, according to document

Magen David Adom says it will implement a 2005 agreement to stop funding and operating ambulances in the West Bank, according to a document on the undertaking obtained by Haaretz.  According to the pledge, the local authorities in the West Bank will run the ambulance service, whose staff will wear different uniforms to distinguish them from their MDA colleagues in Israel proper....MDA would also remove the Star of David from its ambulances in the West Bank, replacing it with a red diamond shape.

For its part, Magen David Adom said in a statement on Thursday that it is "not familiar with the document in question. We denounce the attempt to use fragmental information, most of it distorted, and present it as facts. Magen David Adom is operating as usual with no change in the entire West Bank, with the organization's emblem as it has been until now."

...At the beginning of June this year, senior Red Cross officials from the United States, France, Indonesia and Turkey came to Israel to pressure Magen David to change the emblem on the ambulances. At the meeting in Finland later that month, Magen David Adom Chairman Noam Yifrah, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent and Stenbeck agreed to change the Star of David emblems on the ambulances and the MDA's uniforms in the West Bank. Yifrah submitted examples of the new emblem and promised that foreign donations for buying Magen David Adom ambulances would not be used for buying ambulances for the settlements. In August, MDA started calling in ambulances from the West Bank to Israel to change the emblem, angering the settlers and raising a political uproar...On November 13, Magen David Adom told the IFRC it had changed the markings on 62 of 68 ambulances posted in settlements, with a picture showing the new emblem...MDA reported that it had problems with foreign donators due to the decision to change the emblem and had received a letter from the state comptroller asking for a clarification on the issue. It also said a number of settlers had changed the emblem on the ambulances themselves and MDA intended to take legal steps against them.

Withdraw you financial support!
Dismantle your affiliation!
Surrender your commitments!

__________________

Marc Prowiser adds here:

...Magen David Adom has now shown us that they are no longer an organization whose priority it is to save lives; they have joined the political arena. They wish to be part of “them” rather than “us”.

The irony here, in the simple world of saving lives is… that the same people who have brought honor and dignity to the Red Star of David in the Arab world are now the ones being thrown “to the dogs”.

They wish to change the uniforms of the MDA volunteers in Judea and Samaria to “distinguish” us from others, I believe the new uniform they propose will have a “Yellow Star” on it, perhaps this will appease the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent…whose symbols do not offend the world, as the Star of David does…nasty Jews.

Yet more of the same rhetoric and poison streams through the leadership of the MDA, much like that of various Jewish Federations and Congregations who also abandon our people living in Judea and Samaria. MDA and ARMDI keep on claiming to deny this “letter” and allegations, yet I have not seen any action to back their words of defense, only concern that their donor base will decrease.

If it is not true, PROVE IT TO BE WRONG!

We are told that this whole story is based upon their wish of acceptance to a club whose symbol is a cross and a crescent, an organization whose ambulances have been proven guilty of transporting terrorists to kill innocents, and who offer more funding, funny, the word “whore” comes to mind.

If the MDA does continue down this road, they will be able to stand proudly next to other proud organizations like B’Tzelem, the New Israel Fund and others who have turned their back on Israel’s future. They will also have to bear the same responsibility.

Magen David Adom… If you leave us, we will leave you, and it will be your loss! But the symbol will remain, because it is not yours, it is OURS, the Jewish People!

^

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

That Red Cross Blood Libel? How Many Days Led to "Emaciation"?

A Red Cross spokeswoman, Anne-Sophie Bonefeld, said that when the children and others were rescued in Gaza on Wednesday, workers had to leave behind a number of bodies. On Thursday, she said, 100 civilians were rescued from the same Gaza City neighborhood. They were not wounded, but they were weakened because of being without food or water for two days.

Source

More:

The statement said a team of four Palestine Red Crescent ambulances accompanied by Red Cross representatives made its way to Zeitoun Wednesday where it “found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.”

In another house, the statement said, the rescue team “found 15 other survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet another house, they found an additional three corpses. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do. There were several other positions of the Israeli Defense Forces nearby as well as two tanks.”

Because of berms built by Israeli forces, the ambulances could not enter the area so “the children and the wounded had to be taken to the ambulances on a donkey cart,” the statement said.

Half of Gaza moves on donkey carts.

Half of Hamas arms moves in ambulances.

More than half of Hamas bases are in UNRWA facilities.

Follow-up on Post-Academic Freedom

I recently published the academic composition competition on Hebron's illegality sponsored in part by Israeli academic institutions.

I sent it off to the Hebronites, the Jewish ones, that is, and sure enough, this was sent around a day later:-

To all friends and supporters of the Jewish Community of Hebron: The following document(see .pdf attached for original) calls for an international competition dealing with 'the occupation of Hebron," marking "the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the 'palestinian territories.'"

Note that this competition is sponsored, in part, by the International Red Cross. Also, please note email addresses, phone numbers and faxes of the competition's steering committee at the conclusion of this email.

Perhaps you may wish enter the competition and write about the Arab occupation of Eretz Yisrael in general, and more specifically, Hebron. Perhaps you will write about Muslim prevention of Jews and Christians from entering Ma'arat HaMachpela (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) for 700 years. Perhaps you will write about the transformation of the Avraham Avinu synagogue into a sheep pen and public lavatory. Perhaps you will research the defilement and destruction of the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron. Perhaps you will write about the 1929 massacre, during which 67 Jews were slaughtered and dozens maimed and injured. (More topic information will be forthcoming.)

Dr. Orna Ben-Naftali, Head of the International Law Division, the Law School, the College of Management Academic Studies; Tel. (9723)963-4121 Email: obennaft@colman.ac.il
Toni Pfanner, Editor in chief, The International Review of the Red Cross
Tel: 41 22 730 29 11 Fax: 41227302830 Email: tpfanner@icrc.org
Adv. Limor Yehuda, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel. 02-6521218
Dr. Barak Medinah, Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Senior Lectureship in Law
Competition Coordinator: Mr. Avi Berg (hebronc@actcom.net.il)

Please make your voices heard.

Nice going.