(ShalomLife-Canada) Jonathan D. Halevi - Hamas' line of defense vis-a-vis the Goldstone report has been shaped by a group of Palestinian jurists headed by Diya al-Din Muhsin al-Madhoun, former legal adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and today chairman of the Tawtheeq (documentation) organization on which the Goldstone committee relied for information. In a series of interviews to the media, Madhoun elaborated Hamas' main legal arguments. Madhoun asserts that all of historic Palestine is occupied land and that international law legitimizes the right of self-defense of the Palestinian people. Therefore, Madhoun argues that "resistance operations conducted by the Palestinian resistance organizations, including launching rockets and mortar shells at the occupying Zionist forces, and all other military operations, are legitimate according to international law under the principle of defending our people and liberating our occupied land." Madhoun argues that Israel's claim for self-defense constitutes a grave violation of the Palestinian people's right to self-defense as reflected in its armed struggle to liberate the land of Palestine. A declared terrorist organization, which adheres to Islamic law (sharia) as the only source of legitimacy and promotes an ideology of genocide, is receiving legal support from human rights organizations and internationally respected jurists in its lawfare waged against a democratic state. Even more peculiar is Judge Goldstone's decision to rely without reservations on Tawtheeq in preparing its report, while its experts publicly make a travesty of international law and argue that Israel violated the Palestinians' right to kill Israelis in the armed struggle to destroy Israel. Lt. Col. (ret.) Halevi served as a senior adviser for political planning in Israel's Foreign Ministry.
2010-02-03 08:14:31Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive