[Ha'aretz] Bradley Burston - In a thousand ways, in a thousand places, Kassam rockets have been written off as primitive, unguided, home-made. They are all of those. They are also a war crime. They are a lethal weapon fired intentionally and specifically at purely civilian targets. As such, their use, at the hands of their Palestinian gunners, is a flagrant violation of international law. Any party to any armed conflict "is obligated to abide by international humanitarian law, or the laws of war," Human Rights Watch declared earlier this month, after a Sderot mother of two was killed by a Kassam. "Because Kassams are not capable of accurate targeting, it is unlawful to use them in or near areas populated with civilians." "A prohibited indiscriminate attack includes using weapons that are incapable of discriminating between civilians and combatants or between civilian and military objects." On the solely pragmatic level, the Kassams have tarnished and undermined the Palestinian cause as has no other action since suicide bombings cost the Palestinians their entire reservoir of international sympathy.
2006-11-24 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive