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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 2nd,
2009 - U.S. Sold Phosphorus Shells Used in Gaza to Israel |
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U.S. Sold Phosphorus Shells
Used in Gaza to Israel From the Associated Press February 2, 2009 Little Rock - The United
States sold phosphorus artillery shells made at the Pine Bluff Arsenal to
Israel - the same kind of rounds allegedly used against civilians during the
recent fighting in Gaza. A State Department official
told The Associated Press that the rounds - typically used to light up
darkened battlefields or provide smoke cover for combat troops - were most
recently shipped to Israel in 2007. International human rights groups accuse
the Israeli military of firing the chemical rounds into civilian homes,
causing severe burns to those inside and killing at least one woman. International law allows for
the use of the phosphorus shells, but not in areas where civilians could be
harmed by the burning rounds. The Pine Bluff Arsenal, a
13,000-acre base near Little Rock that once housed some of the Army's
deadliest chemical and biological weapons, advertises itself as the only
plant in North America capable of manufacturing the white phosphorus rounds.
A photograph published by the British newspaper The Times taken during the
recent fighting showed rounds waiting to be fired with Pine Bluff Arsenal
serial numbers. The arsenal referred calls
about the phosphorus rounds to the Pentagon. Lt. Col. Almarah Belk, a
military spokeswoman, did not immediately return a request for comment
Friday. Previously, the military has said it supports "Israel's right to
defend itself" and declined to comment about specific arms sales. The State Department
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity over the sensitivity of the
issue, stressed that the white phosphorus rounds should only be used to
"obscure, and thereby protect, troops and their movements." The
official said the United States would take any unauthorized use of the rounds
seriously and "would take appropriate, corrective action." White phosphorus, a caustic
chemical, ignites when it comes in contact with oxygen. During the Vietnam
War, white phosphorus served as the ignitor in napalm bombs. Though the U.S.
later eliminated its napalm stockpiles, white phosphorus illumination and
smoke rounds remain a mainstay in the military's arsenal. The 1980 Convention on
Conventional Weapons prohibits use of the substance as an incendiary weapon
against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in
civilian areas. However, neither Israel nor the U.S. signed onto that part of
the international agreement. In 2004, U.S. troops in Iraq
used white phosphorous as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the
battle of Fallujah, Pentagon officials have said. The Pentagon denied troops
used the rounds against civilians. Amnesty International has
issued a report about a shelling in a residential area of Gaza City,
concluding that Israel used white phosphorus rounds improperly. Amnesty also
said Israel used white phosphorus shells in an attack on U.N. warehouses in
Gaza City on Jan. 15, an incident that infuriated U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon. Amnesty has accused Israel
of committing a war crime by firing the munitions into densely populated areas. Initially, Israel
categorically denied that its use of phosphorous weapons was illegal. Later,
the Israeli military said it will investigate the accusations made by the
U.N. and human rights groups. External link: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003936897 Prosecutor looks at ways to
put Israeli officers on trial for Gaza ‘war crimes’ By Catherine Philp & James Hider The Times February 2, 2009 The International Criminal
Court is exploring ways to prosecute Israeli commanders over alleged war
crimes in Gaza. The alleged crimes include
the use of deadly white phosphorus in densely populated civilian areas, as
revealed in an investigation by The Times last month. Israel initially denied
using the controversial weapon, which causes horrific burns, but was forced
later, in the face of mounting evidence, to admit to having deployed it. When Palestinian groups
petitioned the ICC this month, its prosecutor said that it was unable to take
the case because it had no jurisdiction over Israel, a nonsignatory to the
court. Now, however, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor, has told The
Times that he is examining the case for Palestinian jurisdiction over alleged
crimes committed in Gaza. Palestinian groups have
submitted arguments asserting that the Palestinian Authority is the de facto
state in the territory where the crimes were allegedly committed. “It is the territorial state
that has to make a reference to the court. They are making an argument that
the Palestinian Authority is, in reality, that state,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo told
The Times at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Part of the Palestinian argument
rests on the Israeli insistence that it has no responsibility for Gaza under
international law since it withdrew from the territory in 2006. “They are
quoting jurisprudence,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo said. “It’s very complicated. It’s a
different kind of analysis I am doing. It may take a long time but I will
make a decision according to law.” Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that
his examination of the case did not necessarily reflect a belief that war
crimes had been committed in Gaza. Determining jurisdiction was a first step,
he said, and only after it had been decided could he launch an investigation. The prosecutor’s office has
already received several files on alleged crimes from Palestinian groups and
is awaiting further reports from the Arab League and Amnesty International
containing evidence gathered in Gaza. Under the Rome treaty that
founded it, the ICC can investigate and prosecute allegations of the most
serious war crimes only if the country responsible is unwilling or unable to
do so through its national courts. States that are party to the
treaty can refer cases of crimes committed by their citizens or on their
territory. Cases involving the citizens or territory of a country that has
not signed up to the court can be referred by the United Nations Security
Council - as in the case of Darfur. Ivory Coast set a precedent as the first
nonstate party to accept the ICC’s jurisdiction over alleged war crimes on
its territory. It signed the Rome treaty but never ratified it. In 2005 it
lodged a declaration with the court accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction over
crimes committed there since September 2002. Palestinian lawyers argue
that the Palestinian Authority should be allowed to refer the cases in Gaza
on this same ad hoc basis - despite its lack of internationally recognised
statehood. The case has wide-reaching
ramifications for the Palestinian case for statehood. If the court rejects
the case, it will highlight the legal black hole that Palestinians find
themselves in while they remain stateless. However, it also underlines some
of Israel’s worst fears about a Palestinian state on its borders. A
Palestinian state that ratified the Rome treaty would then be able to refer
alleged Israeli war crimes to the court without the current legal wrangling.
The case could also lead to snowballing international recognition of a
Palestinian state by countries eager to see Israel prosecuted. One avenue would be for
Israel to agree to investigate its commanders and prosecute any crimes
discovered. That would remove any case from the orbit of the international
court. So far that appears unlikely, given Israel’s repeated denials of war
crimes in Gaza. The Israeli army has,
however, launched an internal inquiry into whether white phosphorus was used
in some cases in built-up areas, having eventually admitted that it did use
the incendiary substance, which is not illegal as a battlefield smokescreen
but is banned from being used in civilian areas. Camera footage from one such
attack shows what appears to be white phosphorous raining down on a UN school
in Beit Lahiya, where Red Crescent ambulances and their crews were stationed. A coalition of Israeli human
rights groups has urged the country’s attorney-general to open an independent
investigation into allegations of war crimes by troops, urging that to do so
could head off international court cases. The groups, including the
antisettlement organisation B’Tselem, said that there had been reports of
Israeli forces firing into civilian areas, denying medical aid to the wounded
and preventing Palestinian ambulances from reaching them, and of firing at
people carrying white flags. Meanwhile, the UN is
preparing an inquiry into the bombardment of a UN school in Jabaliya, in the
northern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces fired artillery shells outside the
school, which had been converted into a refugee shelter for Gazans fleeing
their homes. At least 43 people were killed. Israel said that Palestinian
militants had fired from the compound, which was denied by the UN. External link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5636069.ece |