“Israeli soldiers unlawfully shot and killed 11 Palestinians who were waving white flags to convey their civilian status,” says a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published Thursday. Israel has rejected the allegations as ‘totally untrue’.

by Hermione Gee

"These casualties comprise a small fraction of the Palestinian civilians wounded and killed", the report says, "but they stand out because, in each case, the victims were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag."

Universal symbol of surrender
Based on ballistic evidence, medical reports and witness testimony, the report details seven 'white flag' incidents that took place during Israel's incursion into Gaza last December. Joe Stork from the Jerusalem Desk of Human Rights Watch explains:

"The white flag is a universal symbol of surrender. Of the fact you have no hostile intent, you are unarmed, you have civilian status. You are not a legitimate military target. So, all the circumstances point to, at the very least, a serious failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants, on behalf of the IDF, and at worst, a purposeful intent to kill civilians, which is a war crime."

Listen to an interview with Bill van Esveld from Human Rights Watch:

But, says Joe Stork, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have not cooperated with HRW investigators, despite repeated requests:

"Our main call is for some measure of accountability. They've conducted investigations into friendly fire incidents. They want to know what measures they have to take in training to see that it doesn't happen again. That's the kind of investigation we want to see."

'Nice names'
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects the conclusions of the report. Spokesman Andy David:

"This whole notion that Israel is shooting people who are surrendering is totally not true. Whenever there is information that there were civilians present, many operations were aborted."

Human Rights Watch, David says, is showing its bias against Israel.

"We're talking about organisations that do have very nice names - you know, human rights, everybody's in favour of human rights. But, from our experience, in many cases, they're presenting a very, very one-sided position. Besides, our government does not need outside organisations to tell us to investigate our own actions. This is something we're doing regardless of anyone else. We're investigating ourselves, our actions. When there were evidence of criminal actions, action was taken. People were punished."

International justice
But if Israel fails to investigate these white-flag cases properly, Stork says, the international community needs to step in.

"If there's no progress on that front, then we think there does need to be some sort of international action, whether that takes the form of a referral to the International Criminal Court, or whether that takes the form of universal jurisdiction."

The United Nations Human Rights Council has launched its own investigation into alleged human rights abuses committed by Israel and Palestine during the Gaza offensive. Led by former international prosecutor Justice Richard Goldstone, the commission is expected to issue its report in the next few weeks.

Photo: ANP