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Written by National Lawyers Guild National Lawyers Guild
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Category: News News
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Published: 02 April 2009 02 April 2009
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Last Updated: 02 April 2009 02 April 2009
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Created: 02 April 2009 02 April 2009
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For Immediate Release – April
2, 2009
Contact: Paige Cram, NLG Communications Coordinator, 212-679-5100, ext.15
American Lawyers in Gaza: Evidence that Israel
Violated International Law,
U.S. Domestic
Law Implicated
New York
–
Israel violated
international law by targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, misusing
weapons, deliberately denying medical care to the wounded and attacking medical
personnel, the National Lawyers Guild Delegation to
Gaza
said today upon releasing a 37 page report containing new evidence on the facts
surrounding
Israel’s
22 day military offensive in
Gaza.
The full report can be viewed at
www.nlg.org.
Photos are also available upon request.
“Our findings join a growing chorus of voices—which include Israeli
soldiers themselves—asserting that Israeli forces deliberately targeted
civilians during the
Gaza offensive,” said
Radhika Sainath, one of the attorneys who initiated the seven-day fact-finding
delegation to
Gaza.
“On a number of occasions, Israeli soldiers shot and killed young
children as well as unarmed civilians holding white flags—both violations
of the laws of war.”
The Delegation also uncovered evidence of Israeli soldiers using Palestinians
as human shields, acts that constitute war crimes, as well as evidence that the
Israeli military targeted civilian infrastructure and grossly misused weapons.
Further,
Israel
denied the wounded access to medical care and routinely fired on emergency
medical teams attempting to reach those in need of help. Paramedics and
doctors reported to the Delegation that many civilians could have been saved if
the Israeli army allowed Palestinian medical services access to the wounded.
“On one occasion, when Israeli forces did allow Palestinian medical
services to enter an area after four days, soldiers prohibited their ambulances
from approaching and paramedics were forced to pile the injured on donkey
carts,” reported Reem Salahi, a California-based civil rights
attorney. “Medical workers were then forced to pull the carts to
their ambulances two kilometers away.”
The Delegation is calling on the Obama Administration and Congress to
investigate the possible misuse of
U.S.
defense articles by
Israel
during the
Gaza
offensive. The Delegation is also calling for the Obama Administration to
immediately suspend military aid to
Israel until protocols are in place
to assure compliance with international humanitarian law. “The
United States must take action to ensure that
its
U.S.
foreign assistance is not used in violation of international law,” said
Thomas Nelson, an Oregon-based attorney specializing in national security law.
A National Lawyers Guild delegation of seven attorneys and one law student
traveled to the Gaza Strip from February 2-8, 2009, to investigate the 22 day
Israeli military offensive into
Gaza
that began on December 27, 2009. The objective of the Delegation was to
investigate the circumstances that led to the massive Palestinian casualties,
to determine what, if any, violations of international law occurred, and
whether
U.S.
domestic law was implicated as a consequence.
Founded in 1937, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public
interest/human rights bar organization in the
United States. Its headquarters are
in
New York,
and it has chapters in every state.
