Is it acceptable for Israel to use Gazan civilians as human shields?
The Enlightened Columnist
Monday, Jan 12, 2009
Would it be acceptable to use U.S citizens as human shields if we were attacked by, say, Russian forces? I think not. Americans would be OUTRAGED.
Now most would agree that the practice of using human shields is morally wrong, unless of coarse you are immoral, but the logical question here is: is it legal?
The Israeli High Court ruled against the use of human shields in 2005. The court ruling stated specifically that, "The use of human shields was in violation of international law." The ruling was unfortunately a delayed decision based on Israeli military forces using Palestinian civilians as human shields which was widely practiced during the five year Palestinian uprising that led up to the court ruling.
The "neighboring procedure" as it was called, is well documented. The tactical use of innocent civilians was almost limitless. Israeli soldiers would make civilians brandish weapons to deter fire from Israeli troops to cover troop movements and various urban assaults on Palestinian forces.Other procedures included forcing civilians into potentially booby trapped houses to prevent military casualties as well as forcing Palestinian ambulance drivers to drive in front of Israeli soldiers to provide a mechanized civilian shield.
Judge Aharon Barak, president of the High Court, stated specifically in the ruling: "You cannot exploit the civilian population for the army's military needs, and you cannot force them to collaborate with the army."
In 2002 a coalition of human rights groups, including Israeli and Palestinian organizations, petitioned in opposition to the Israeli militaries use of the neighboring procedure. The petition was filed in response to widespread reports from civilians and Israeli military forces themselves.
As result, The High Court initially ruled an injunction against the policy despite the tireless efforts of human rights groups whom continued to document numerous cases of the use of human shields. The injunction was eventually modified in 2003 to allow the use of "prior warning" situations which were deemed acceptable if Palestinian civilians "volunteered" to help the opposing occupational forces of the Israeli Defense Forces.
"It is hard to judge when a Palestinians consent was given freely and when it was the fruit of overt or covert pressure," Judge Aharon Barak stated in his written decision.
Indeed.
A key provision of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates legal protections for civilians living under military occupation.
So what is the verdict here? Guilty. It is Illegal under international law to use civilians for human shields or for any military action that would otherwise put them in harms way and violate their human rights.
:)
The Jerusalem Post
Gaza: Use of human shields continues
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378435257&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Amnesty International Says Israel Uses Palestinians as Human Shields
http://www.aljazeerah.info/News/2009/January/7%20n/Amnesty%20International%20Says%20Israel%20Uses%20Palestinians%20as%20Human%20Shields.htm
Israel's human shields draw fire
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jan/02/israel1
WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU DOUBT WHAT I HAVE PRESENTED
Israeli Army Uses Palestinian Children as Human Shield part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTh8M80LA_s
What makes your mind race ?
Everyone's mind races from time to time. When you are not focused on any one thing the brain tends to exercise itself in an attempt to sort through random thoughts and feelings just for the sake of doing so. To sort of, keep the "engines running." So often, this random stream of emotions and ideas stem from the sub-conscience mind by way of thought pictures or mental images, that may manifest more as obsessive mental clutter that you just replay constantly as your mind "races". In fact much of this is actually a very normal part of the cognitive process as long as you don't allow it to control your thoughts and feelings all of the time.
The trick is to actively exercise the mind by acknowledging the process so that you may begin to take control of these random brain storms (if you will) and direct this mental energy into a positive outcome. Chances are if your mind is racey, and you experience a lot of the same thought images over and over, it is your sub-conscience mind preparing to reveal something to your conscience self. This may be described as a "revelation" or "epiphany."
The best remedy for this random marathon of ideas is either hard work or meditation. When you involve yourself in something that requires much of your focus to complete the task you will find that the mind will eventually quiet itself naturally. This is actually a goood thing because when the mind slows down, it tends to work more efficiently and purposefully. Mental clarity can be achieved this way. When the mind is clear of all the clutter and racey thoughts, life will make much more sense.
Meditation is more of an active form of mental maintenance where as hard work would be considered more passive or distracting. Meditation is good because it teaches you to quiet the mind in an attempt to eventually control these seemingly random thought encounters into a sensible, easy to follow map to the true self. Although meditation requires a certain amount of discipline, it is a valuable skill that can be easily acquired with very little practice. Not unlike most things, the hardest part is getting started. As Plato said," The beginning is the most important part of the work."
To clarify, everyone experiences racey thoughts and mental clutter. By admitting to this very normal part of the human condition, you are in no way weird or mentally ill. In fact, people with overactive imaginations are usually very intelligent people. The fact of the matter is, thinkers think, and great thinkers think all the time. The problem is sometimes we do so much thinking that we eventually come to a place where we can't stop thinking. That inner monologue just will not turn itself off! That's when the mind kicks into overdrive and begins to take control over itself instead of allowing the individual to direct the cognitive process. This then leads to the racey thoughts and feelings of anxiety and so forth. At this point we often find ourselves lying in bed trying to negotiate a truce between our runaway brains and 40 winks (R.E.M sleep). Maybe the easy solution to this would be counting sheep, or more appropriately, sheeple :)
12-22-08