Saturday, July 5, 2008

Collective Punishment 2

As a follow up to yesterday's post, it might be noted that the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, has ordered the demolition of Hussam Duwiyat's home, (the Palestinan responsible for the bulldozer attack) along with the home of Alaa Abu Dhaim who in March shot and killed eight students in Jerusalem. They were both in turn shot dead by security forces during their respective attacks. Barak's order to raise both homes was based on a decision by the Israeli Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, who said that there were no constitutional barriers to, "raising the homes of terrorists", although he did go on to say that there might be both local and international legal obstacles to be considered.1 Of course, there are legal "obstacles" and while I am not sure what the exact situation is with Israeli law, I do know that, in international law, the punitive action that has been taken by the Israeli authorities is illegal. This, however, is just one of thousands and thousands of instances where Israel ignores international law with impunity.
1 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998668.html

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