Israeli Court Declines to Ban Military's Targeted Killings
14 December 2006
Israel's top court has declined to ban the military's practice of carrying out targeted killings of Palestinian militants.
But the three-judge panel unanimously ruled the practice is not always legal, leaving it up to the military to evaluate operations on a case-by-case basis. The court said it is concerned about the deaths of innocent bystanders.
Israel's military has routinely used the practice against militants during the past six years of violence.
On Wednesday, the court approved construction of a controversial section of the separation barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank, rejecting an appeal by local Arab residents. The court said the barrier was critical to preventing potential Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Jerusalem.
Several human rights groups brought the case against targeted assassinations. An Israeli group (B'Tselem) estimates that 339 Palestinians, including 129 bystanders, have been killed by targeted assassinations since the year 2000.
In 2002, Israel dropped a one ton bomb on a house in the Gaza Strip, killing a senior Hamas operative. The bomb also killed at least eight children.
In the northern West Bank Thursday, Palestinian medical officials say Israeli soldiers shot dead two men.
In the first incident, witnesses say Israeli troops entered a refugee camp in Nablus dressed as civilians and killed a member of the radical Islamic Jihad group.
In a second incident, witnesses say a man in the village of Kafr al-Dik was shot and killed by Israeli troops who encountered stone throwers. The Israeli military said the man was about to throw a cement block at the troops.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
