Humanitarian war
In war, there are always civilian casualties. Because of the deliberate attacks on civilians and the bombing of major cities during WWII, the legal rules of war under the Geneva Conventions were modified in order to protect civilians and to try to reduce civilian casualties. This issue became relevant recently, not because of the thousands of civilian casualties caused by the US and British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the deliberate targeting of civilians by terrorist organizations, but because of the relatively limited number of civilian casualties that occurred during IDF Operation Cast Lead (OCL) in Gaza in 2009.
As a result of OCL, the UN Human Rights Commission initiated the Goldstone Report that focussed on the IDF and ignored the actions of Hamas (including their barrage of Israeli civilian territory for 8 years with thousands of rockets). Israel refused to cooperate with this biased investigation, but initiated its own enquiry. Of the hundreds of allegations by Goldstone of "war crimes" by the IDF, the IDF found 47 cases that were worthy of further investigation and only two cases have been deemed serious enough to actually charge the soldiers involved. Nevertheless, as a result of lessons learned, the IDF has now issued a further Report entitled "Gaza Operations Investigations: Second Update," that proposes changes in the military doctrine when fighting wars like OCL where the main action is carried out in densely populated urban areas, as it was deliberately by Hamas in Gaza (this in itself is a "war crime").
The latest Report will put the IDF in the forefront of all armies in the world in terms of humanitarian law. It is proposed that each army unit engaged in conflict at the battalion level will have its own Humanitarian Affairs Officer (HAO), who will be responsible for ensuring that all orders are lawful and that all actions are taken with specific regard for protecting civilian lives. No Army in the world has so far established such an integral humanitarian aspect within its forces. This officer will be responsible for briefing units in combat so that cases like the ones currently being investigated are avoided, where a civilian was used as a shield and where a civilian was killed.
Also, although the use of "white phosphorus" (WP) for producing dense clouds of smoke is legal in warfare, its use against civilians is banned because of the terrible burns it produces. The IDF acknowledges that in some cases WP was used too close to civilian areas, and the HAO will be responsible for seeing that such overlaps do not take place in future conflicts.
These changes will not prevent all civilian casualties nor will they result in the acceptance of the the IDF by the UN or the Muslim States, that will automatically vote against Israel in any case. But, they will provide a measure of protection for IDF soldiers and officers in their dealing with the very difficult area of conflict in densely populated areas. They will make the IDF a more moral army, the most moral in the world, and this will be a source of pride for the Israeli State and people.
As a result of OCL, the UN Human Rights Commission initiated the Goldstone Report that focussed on the IDF and ignored the actions of Hamas (including their barrage of Israeli civilian territory for 8 years with thousands of rockets). Israel refused to cooperate with this biased investigation, but initiated its own enquiry. Of the hundreds of allegations by Goldstone of "war crimes" by the IDF, the IDF found 47 cases that were worthy of further investigation and only two cases have been deemed serious enough to actually charge the soldiers involved. Nevertheless, as a result of lessons learned, the IDF has now issued a further Report entitled "Gaza Operations Investigations: Second Update," that proposes changes in the military doctrine when fighting wars like OCL where the main action is carried out in densely populated urban areas, as it was deliberately by Hamas in Gaza (this in itself is a "war crime").
The latest Report will put the IDF in the forefront of all armies in the world in terms of humanitarian law. It is proposed that each army unit engaged in conflict at the battalion level will have its own Humanitarian Affairs Officer (HAO), who will be responsible for ensuring that all orders are lawful and that all actions are taken with specific regard for protecting civilian lives. No Army in the world has so far established such an integral humanitarian aspect within its forces. This officer will be responsible for briefing units in combat so that cases like the ones currently being investigated are avoided, where a civilian was used as a shield and where a civilian was killed.
Also, although the use of "white phosphorus" (WP) for producing dense clouds of smoke is legal in warfare, its use against civilians is banned because of the terrible burns it produces. The IDF acknowledges that in some cases WP was used too close to civilian areas, and the HAO will be responsible for seeing that such overlaps do not take place in future conflicts.
These changes will not prevent all civilian casualties nor will they result in the acceptance of the the IDF by the UN or the Muslim States, that will automatically vote against Israel in any case. But, they will provide a measure of protection for IDF soldiers and officers in their dealing with the very difficult area of conflict in densely populated areas. They will make the IDF a more moral army, the most moral in the world, and this will be a source of pride for the Israeli State and people.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:45 AM
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