Breaking the Silence on 22 Day War [Pt.2]

Breaking the Silence on 22 Day War [Pt.2]


“Breaking the Silence” publication of Israeli ‘Front Line’ troops testimonies further echoes and corroborates concerns posed by all humans rights organisations working in the war torn enclave of the Gaza Strip. However, despite pro-Israeli counter arguments against the validity and authenticity of some of the testimonies provided, the authors of the report are extremely well respected on the international press and diplomatic circuits. The revelations contained in their report, along with those compiled by Amnesty International, International Red Cross and Human Rights Watch, put further pressure on Israel to answer International ’War Crime’ allegations inflicted upon the Palestinian people during ‘Operation: Cast Lead’.

This non-governmental organisation’s ethos and ‘raison d'être’ is to “demand accountability regarding Israel's military actions in the Occupied territories perpetrated by us and in our name,” As regards financial aid, “Breaking the Silence” receives active funding from such reputable benefactors as; British Embassy in Tel Aviv, Dutch Embassy, the European Union and the New Israel Fund to undertake its investigative work.

Following on from my previous review, “’Breaking the Silence’ on the 22-Day War”, this article will examine the remaining two areas highlighted regarding ‘Operation: Cast Lead’. These two sections take a closer look at the claims of ‘Disproportionate Use of Force’ and the alleged indiscriminate firing of White Phosphorus shells into civilian zones.

Disproportionate Use of Force

Time and time again Israel becomes confronted with allegations and world-wide condemnation of using disproportionate force against its aggressors.  Prior to the 22-Day War Israel sought global validity for what it was going to unleash on Gaza by cloaking it’s imminent invasion as an act of "Self-Defence".  The legal mandate Israel used was Article 51 contained in the UN Charter which declares that if a country attacks you, you are entitled to take action to defend yourself.  However, this does not permit the targeting of civilians either intentionally or non-intentionally as stipulated in the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Israel has a litany of allegations levelled against them through the years of using disproportionate force when dealing with their Middle East disputes, including;

• Their unprovoked attack on Iraq's Osirak in 1981
• Israel's seven-day bombing campaign of Lebanon in retaliation for Hezbollah rocket attacks (1993)
• The Second Lebanon War/July War (2006)
• Fresh allegations over 22-Day War (2008)

Yet again Israel is facing major allegations by international observers and world leaders for their conduct during the 22-Day War regarding the indiscriminate targeting of civilian areas by Israeli artillery. Current International condemnation is being led by The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In attempt to stave of this criticism, the IDF command defended their use of excessive retaliatory force in built up civilian areas of Gaza by claiming that Hamas were using such areas (including schools and offices) to launch rocket attacks on their positions and that their troops were merely acting purely in self-defence. However, one soldier’s testimony claims to completely refute the claim that Israeli fire upon Palestinian civilian premises was solely reactionary in defence of their positions.

Q: Were there house demolitions in your area?

A: All the time. Houses were demolished everywhere. You see clearly that these houses had been fired at with tremendous power. We didn’t see a single house that remained intact, beginning with such scenes as you saw photographed – a house totally shattered or a house with a huge hole in it or many bullet hits on it. We didn’t see a single house that was not hit. The entire infrastructure, tracks, fields, roads – was in total ruin. The D-9 had gone over everything, building up the tank positions and preparing the routes. Nothing much was left in our designated area. It looked awful, like in those World War II films where nothing remained. A totally destroyed city. The few houses that were still inhabitable were taken by the army. The less a house was damaged, all the more chances were it would be entered by soldiers to spend the day or night. As I said, there were lots of abandoned, miserable animals. 

Q: During your week inside the tank position were there still D-9s demolishing houses around and entering neighborhoods across from you?

A: All the time. Definitely. During the week we were there, almost daily, armored infantry would go into a house, this was not D-9s. It was armored infantry since they suspected the houses to be booby-trapped – they blasted the houses. They would open a hole in order to enter the house not through the regular entry door. There were constant blasts, and the D-9s would expand the tank positions and routes. Corps of Engineers was engaged there nonstop, with houses containing no one. It was funny because at some point someone said – I don’t quite remember who, I think our deputy commander or the company commander himself – that our company is supposed to be more active, assigned to do more. So, really, houses were entered where no one was present, and anyway those houses were monitored and I, personally, never saw anyone in there, perhaps the commanders did find a reason to enter them. I didn’t see the reason to enter houses in an empty area where we were monitoring the houses nonstop. Still houses were entered and damage was done to property, for we only saw property, not one person. No obvious reason whatsoever. Perhaps they thought there were weapons inside. I didn’t see any reason for this activity, but it was ongoing, all the time.

However, for any observer who is not akin to the technically advanced weaponry at IDF disposal should not be fooled into the misconception that all this pure wanton destruction could be blamed on afew misguided shells should pay close attention to this next extract. It explains the preciseness of a new mortar device (120mm Mortar) used on the Gaza Strip invasion by Israeli forces;

The 120mm Mortar (a type of mortar shell fired by the IDF in Gaza) is a relatively new system which Giv'ati does not yet possess.

What was the old one like?

The old one had wheels to turn. It takes half an hour to get a shell out. In the new system the computer does the whole calibration process. I have a map, an aerial photo. A code map. I am given a reference point. I click it into the computer. It's a touch screen. I have a keyboard. I click the reference point. It shows me where it is on the map. I press, the mortar is aimed and my subordinate simply fires.

How accurate is it?
Highly accurate. 95-100%

Deployment of White Phosphorus Munitions

White Phosphorus (WP), known as ‘Willy Pete’, is used by military forces in war zones for signalling, screening/incendiary purposes, and destroying enemy equipment or to limiting enemy vision. It is also deployed to combat against vehicles, ammunition dumps and enemy observers. Under specific conventions of The Geneva Treaty (1980) white phosphorus use is strictly prohibited in civilian areas although no blanket ban existed under international law on its deployment as a smokescreen or for illumination. During the 22-Day War there were several physical remnants of white phosphorus deployment in civilian areas of Gaza, specifically the village of Sheikh Ajilin in western Gaza. Locals retrieved the remnants of an exploded white phosphorus mortar shell, and were identified via distinctive code markings on the outer casing. Upon impact of the mortar shell eye witnesses recalled thick dense smoke and a strong garlic-like odour synonymous with the reaction of white phosphorous with air. Furthermore as regards this specific incident, Hebrew writing on the mortar shell read “exploding smoke” — an Israeli military term for this chemical agent.

When one interviewee in the “Breaking the Silence” report was asked about firing white phosphorous mortars he recalled;

Why fire phosphorus?
Because it's fun. Cool. 

Professionally do you have phosphorus for use against such threats?
I don't know what it's used for. I was just talking about this yesterday. I don't
Understand what it's even doing in our supplies if we're not supposed to use such
ammo. It's ridiculous.

When these allegations were initially put to the IDF command, all that they would divulge is that they could neither confirm nor deny white phosphorous use due to possible conflict with specific military operations. Instead they continuously reiterated that any ammunition at the disposal of their military personnel was “within the scope of international law”. However, given the close civilian confinements of Gaza city, Human Rights Watch repeatedly appealed to Israeli forces to cease using white phosphorus mortar shells in the area. It also transpired that other civilian areas of Gaza were also hit by white phosphorus mortars including;

• Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City (15th Jan ’09),
• Firing of up to 20 phosphorus shells into the heavily built-up area around the Beit Lahiya township of Gaza,
• The main UN compound in Gaza City,
• Deployment of white phosphorus mortars in northern Israel.

During the 22 Day War, the Human Rights Watch Executive Director, Kenneth Roth, publicly said “This is a chemical compound that burns structures and burns people.................It should not be used in populated areas.” Whilst acknowledging that it could be used to protect troops on the ground he went on to say;"But it should not be used in civilian areas because there's a parallel duty to take all conceivable precautions to protect the lives of non-combatants,”

Human Rights Watch went on to produce a 71-page report in March of this year to clearly substantiate their initial allegations during the invasion. This report that the IDF "deliberately and recklessly" fired white phosphorus shells into densely populated areas of Gaza in an "indiscriminate" manner that directly resulted in the death and wounding of Palestinian civilians and the actions were tantamount to "evidence of war crimes",

The report also claimed that Israeli military personnel were fully aware of the lethal ability that artillery shells containing this agent could inflict. Furthermore, its deployment in airburst artillery shells revealed a "pattern or policy of conduct rather than incidental or accidental usage."

In addition, Human Rights Watch confirmed that such shells rained down on the Gaza’s UN compound incessantly over a two hour period despite repeated calls by UN staff to Israeli military officials to cease the bombardment. This single attack caused an estimated $10m (£6.8m) of damage whilst the resulting fires burned continuously for 12 days after the attack.

As illustrated, various elements of this entire “Breaking the Silence” report further corroborates allegations of potential 'war crimes' perpetrated by Israeli troops during the 22-Day 'Operation: 'Cast Lead'. Given this ever increasing weight of evidence from a lengthening list of observers, can we really take seriously the public assertions of the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak that the IDF;

'Is one of the world's most moral armies and operates according to the highest moral code!'

A Translated version of the Full Report is available @ ‘Soldier’s Testimonies From Operation Cast Lead Gaza 2009’

Read More

'Breaking the Silence' on 22-Day War [Pt. 1]

'Breaking the Silence' on 22-Day War



In the face of mounting International pressure, Israel continues to denounce allegations of human rights violations during its 22-Day War against Hamas in Gaza launched in December ‘08. A series of hard-hitting reports in the last month from independent International human rights organisations clearly reveal incidents of blatant disregard for the human rights of the Palestinian community in Gaza during 'Operation: Cast Lead'. 

These three reports, carried out byThe Red Cross, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch respectively, are believed to be precursors for a UN Report due in September headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone.

Whilst they were all dismissed by IDF and Israeli government authorities as mere pandering to Palestinian sentiment, the latest report comes from within their own establishment in the form of ‘Front Line’ troops who actually served during the 22-Day pummeling of the Gaza Strip enclave.

The Organisation in question is known as “Shovrim Shtika” (Breaking the Silence), who have recently released a booklet (7/15/09), entitled ‘Soldier’s Testimonies From Operation Cast Lead Gaza 2009’ which gives numerous substantiated testimonies by Israeli soldiers who actively participated in Operation; ‘Cast Iron’. “Breaking the Silence” founded in 2004, is an organisation comprising of Israeli veteran soldiers who served in Palestine since the Second Intifada (Sept. 2000). Their principle objective is to offer the Israeli public and global media an alternate ‘Front Line’ view of the true realities of Israel’s involvement in the Gaza Strip.

In producing this report, “Breaking the Silence” has strenuously attempted to portray the contents as more than just mere disgruntlement from within the military ranks and dispel IDF counter claims that their members represent nothing more than a few ‘bad apples’. The highly revealing testimonies contained within, vividly expose the discrepancies between the official IDF press line to the world on military restraint during their combat operations and what actually transpired on the ground in Gaza during ‘Operation Cast Lead’. In total, this 133-page report contains some 54 testimonies from 30 individual Israeli soldiers, who were actively on the ground during the ’22-Day War’. These testimonies lend considerable weight to previous global media and Independent Organisation’s allegations of ‘unlawful’ practices during the onslaught. In an overview of the report’s findings, “Breaking the Silence” spokesman Mikhael Mankin said;

"The testimonies prove that the immoral way the war was carried out was due to the systems in place and not the individual soldier.....................What was proven yesterday is that through the IDF the exception becomes the norm, and this requires a deep and reflective discussion. This is an urgent call to Israel's society and leadership to take a sober look at the foolishness of our policies."

The main areas highlighted for concern by ‘Soldier’s Testimonies From Operation Cast Lead Gaza 2009' include;

• The permissive use of by the IDF of so-called "accepted practices",
• The wanton destruction of hundreds of homes, private property and mosques,
• The indiscriminate firing of phosphorous gas into densely populated areas,
• The wide scale killing of innocent Palestinians
• An inherent ‘laissez-faire’ moral attitude, which existed within the upper tiers of the IDF’s command structure, that was allowed to manifest itself and precipitate down through all military ranks.

A central and recurrent theme throughout many of the testimonies is one of indiscriminate targeting of civilians as revealed by one Israeli soldier who claimed to be unable to see "the enemy before their eyes." This particular soldier went on to say;


"You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them....................a 20-year-old kid should not have to do these kinds of things to other people."

Due to the complexity of this report and its far reaching implications regards substantiating the claims of the previous International Independent bodies, I will split this overview into two Parts.

Part 1 will Examine:

• Wide scale deployment of ’Neighbour Procedure’ 
• 'Fragmentation’ of the Gaza Strip 
• Israeli ‘Shoot First Ask Questions Later’ Policy?

And Part 2 will Examine:

•  Disproportionate Use of Force 
• Deployment of White Phosphorus Munitions

1.  Wide scale deployment of ’Neighbour Procedure’

‘Neighbour procedure’ is the name given to the military procedure of using civilians (Palestinians in this instance) as human shields by Israeli soldiers when entering a house where suspected militants were believed to be hiding. However, in one of these testimonials a Golani brigade soldier openly confesses that the Israeli occupation forces did use Palestinians as human shields during the 22-Day Conflict, even though the practice has been outlawed since 2005 by an Israeli High Court ruling. The Israeli soldier explains how these Palestinian civilians, referred to as ‘Johnnies’, were use as human shields by fellow IDF soldiers on the ground as they carried out door-to-door raids on Gazan properties. Many of these ‘Johnnies’ were Palestinian civilians who remained on the West Bank despite incessant leaflet drops, telephone warnings, TV campaigns to pressurize Gazan civilians to leave their homes prior to the onslaught. If the use of these civilian human shields proved that militants were present in a civilian property then soldiers automatically adopted the ‘pressure cooker’ approach to neutralise the posed threat.

These so called ‘pressure cooker’ methods to force suspected militants to surrender included the repeated use of helicopter anti-tank missiles and if they this tactic failed to persuade surrender, a D-9 dozer was brought in to demolish the building whilst the Palestinian fighters remained inside. Before each search on a particular building a ‘Johnnie’ was sent into demand the surrender of the individuals inside. In addition, on occasion they were also forced to re-enter the buildings during cessations of IDF fire, sometimes up to three times on an individual military assault.

As regards the blatant use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, one interviewee adds further credibility to accusations made by a Haaretz reporter, Amira Hassof, who had previously drawn attention to this unlawful practice by Israeli personnel during the campaign. The interviewee states;

Sometimes the force would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian’s shoulder, advancing into a house and using him as a human shield. Commanders said these were the instructions and we had to do it.

When asked about the Army’s official response to the prior accusations published in Haaretz about IDF abuses, the soldier replies:

It was ludicrous to…hear the response of the army spokesperson that the matter was investigated and there are no testimonies on the ground and that the Israeli army is a moral army. It raises doubts about the army spokesperson’s responses in general when you know for a fact that these things actually did take place..

However, in a bid to quell public opinion the brigade commander Colonel Avi Peled told Israeli Television that the "Johnnie" story and the use of "human shields" was "nonsense." He then went on to completely refute the soldiers’ testimony given to “Breaking the Silence” as "strictly hearsay" and claim that the soldier in question was not even involved in combat during the time of the alleged incident. However, the IDF did promise that it would "investigate any specific allegations presented by Breaking the Silence."

‘Fragmentation’ of the Gaza Strip

The report details how the principle IDF strategy of ‘Fragmentation’ was to be deployed by their soldiers on the ground during the offensive. ‘Fragmentation’ was basically Israel’s attempt to completely split the Gaza Strip in two, Northern and Southern sections. The military goal was to stop the movement of ammunitions, reinforcements, etc. between the refugee camps and Gaza city. Effectively a physical ground clearance operation as the Israeli military advanced.

Whole villages were completely obliterated from the Palestinian landscape as the Israeli war machine moved forward in an aim to completely neutralise any vain attempt of a Palestinian fight back. Such was the wholesale wanton destruction of whole swathes of Gazan civilian villages and towns that very few can argue that this was not a premeditated Israeli military operation from the very outset. If nothing else these testimonies only serve to reinforce the globally held sentiment that Israel was intent on re-occupation.

  Another interviewee gave a detailed description of how they were detailed to enter Palestinian property. In the report he describes the distinction between two types of military entry into a civilian property, ‘dry’ and ‘wet’. As regards the 22-Day War, the IDF soldier in question claims that to minimise the threat of booby trap devices all Gazan property searches involved the deployment of the ‘wet’ approach, i.e. the use of LPG/LAU/grenades, virtually anything at their disposal prior to entry. An extract from the report explains;

So how does 'wet' entry work?


Missiles, tank fire, machine gun fire into the house, grenades. Shoot as we enter a room. The idea was that when we enter a house, no one there could fire at us. Naturally by combat reasoning we would not take a house that the Hamas would expect us to take, for it would be highly likely for the Hamas to booby-trap it.

Israeli ‘Shoot First Ask Questions Later’ Policy?

This was one of the most fervent allegations made by human rights activists, medical personnel and civilians during Operation: ’Cast Lead’. On numerous occasions there were stories that innocent civilians waving white flags or sheets were indiscriminately shot by IDF soldiers.

During the 22-Day conflict, Jessica Montell of B’Tselem was one of a group of leading Israeli human rights campaigners who received several reports of such incidents. One in particular took place in a town Khuza’a on 13th January when a woman was shot as she left her house whilst waving a white flag. As she lay injured still waving the flag she was then shot in the head. As an ambulance tried to reach the scene it too was fired upon. As the day progressed more incidents transpired including 3 more fatalities when a group of 30 civilians also waving white flags were fired upon indiscriminately. As regards quantifying other incidents Montell claimed;

“This is not the first time that we get such information about the IDF shooting people who leave their houses with white flags, or waving white sheets."

Montell’s sentiment is again echoed by another soldier’s testimonial which appears to reflect an endemic ‘shoot first ask questions later’ approach running through all ranks of the IDF during the Gazan invasion. Within the report one soldier says;

We entered a yard and out of sheer fear the family was waiting in an exposed spot – a father, grandfather, young mother and babies. As we were coming in, the commander was firing a volley, and mistakenly killed an innocent.


What exactly happened?


We got to the house. It was surrounded by a yard, a fence. After the gate is broken in, he goes in with live fire. Several bullets, not a full burst…
The family was hiding from the bombings. They were under the stairs and that happened to be just in front of the door and when he went in and fired, he didn’t see who he was firing at. So he happened to kill an elderly guy…


The IDF soldier goes on to elaborate;



He died on the spot?


I don’t know. When I think back, it really seems insane that I don’t know. It hurts to admit it, but… not that I didn’t care. I did keep this in my mind and intended to write the battalion commander about it but I just didn’t have the time. Too bad I didn’t, come to think of it.


All the testimonials seemingly point to a recurring ‘laissez-faire’ moral attitude (coupled with a massive adrenalin rush) towards IDF soldier’s engagement with Palestinian fighters;


So the atmosphere there was laid back, no pressure, no reservations? There was nothing to hold the men back?



When your company commander and battalion commander tell you, "Go on, fire!" the soldiers will not hold back. They are waiting for this day, the fun of shooting and feeling all that power in your hands.

Read More

Operation 'Cast Iron': Sheer Wanton Destruction!

Operation 'Cast Iron': Sheer Wanton Destruction!

'Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects,' 

Amnesty International’s extensive 117-page Report entitled ‘Israel/Gaza Operation ‘Cast Lead’:22 Days of Death and Destruction’ depicts a harrowing onslaught on a defenseless civilian population. Operation ‘Cast Lead’ commenced at 11.30am on 27 Dec. 2008, with an unrelenting and indiscriminate Israeli aerial bombardment (precision F-16 fighter jets) of the war torn Gaza Strip. Israel’s proposed legitimate aim was to end rocket attacks into Israel territory by armed groups affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Within 22 days of an incessant assault upon the region, some 1,400 Palestinians had lay dead, including some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, including more than 115 women and some 85 men aged over 50. In addition to the human carnage, vast areas of Gaza were pummelled and left virtually inhabitable. had been razed to the ground, leaving many thousands homeless and the already dire economy in ruins.

According to Amnesty the indiscriminate attacks were a clear breach of international humanitarian law, most notably the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects (the principle of distinction), the prohibition on indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and the prohibition on collective punishment.

The Amnesty Report unequivocally calls for an immediate implementation international arms embargoes against Israel and Hamas, and called for 'criminal investigations in national courts' under universal jurisdiction wherever there is sufficient evidence of war crimes.

Rather than go into depth in the full implications of this report I would like to invite Rebels Yell readers to watch this short film footage in order to truly visualise the horrific aftermath of the 22-Day War. The actual report can be found here.
.

>

Read More