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Use of Force/Impunity. Human rights groups continued to document repeated indiscriminate use of lethal force by Israeli troops, as well the excessive use of force in situations where law enforcement means were called for. Investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Israeli forces were infrequent, and the results rarely made public. Palestinian Authority (PA) officials condemned attacks on civilians, including suicide bombings, but failed to move decisively against those responsible for ordering and organizing them where they had the capacity to do so.
Assassinations policy. Israeli forces killed some 97 individuals under its assassinations policy in 2003, and injured 500 others. More than half those killed were civilian bystanders. At least some of these attacks were indiscriminate and disproportionate, including an operation on 21 October 2003 in Gaza city that killed 12 civilians.
Israel originally depicted its assassinations policy as a last-resort means to prevent imminent attack. By 2003 the government had steadily expanded the selection of targets and killed repeatedly without showing any link to imminent attack and that the arrest of suspects was not possible. The essentially political nature of the killings was shown even more clearly when Israel twice suspended its assassination policy for political reasons.
Collective punishment. By May 2003 Israel’s policy of house demolitions had made more than 13,000 Palestinians homeless. Thousands of homes and buildings have been demolished on alleged security grounds, many in excess of the requirements of military necessity. Twenty-one thousand dunums (approximately five thousand acres) of agricultural land have been razed. Israeli forces also demolished the homes of scores of families of alleged armed militants, a clear violation of the prohibition against collective punishment contained in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israeli restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were so severe and widespread as to constitute collective punishment. These crippling restrictions disrupted access to medical care, education, and economic activity, and were frequently accompanied by extended curfews. Movement restrictions remained even as additional restrictions were imposed as a result of the separation barrier. The UN OCHA reported 757 movement barriers in place at the end of 2003.
reposting this... from the report of a mainstream and trusted human rights organization...
Mycroft how can you claim Israel is careful in it's use of force? Have you heard of cluster munitions? Do you know why people are concerned about the use of these weapons? Do you know how many cluster bombs Israel dropped on Lebanon last year? Do you care that Hezbollah are now dropping them in Israel?
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They do.
"Policy statement" was a poor choice of words on my part. I should have said "orders" or "rules of engagement."
The decisions made by a single tank commander doesn't represent the policy of the entire nation unless you can also find orders from much higher in the command structure directing tank commanders to make that decision.
On the other hand, the very fact that these shells have not been used in half a decade does indicate that it has become policy not to use them.
Policy is reflected in the fact that the army searched out, ordered and bought those shells and made them accessible. Or did the tank commander bring his own from home? Get real.
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