03.08.23
Editorial Note
Pro-Palestinian scholars have opened a new legal front against Israel. This time around, they demand compensation to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, to give them a right to justice by Israel “just as Israeli citizens do… Accountability for civilian harm should not be avoided by classing law enforcement as combat.”
The project is a collaboration between Dr. Haim Abraham (UCL Faculty of Laws), Prof. Gilat Bachar (Temple University Beasley School of Law), and Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, assisted by Mr. Matan Flum (UCL, Bartlett Development Planning Unit). The results were published on July 20, 2023; they include a database that was made possible through the support of the University of Haifa Minerva Center for the Rule of Law Under Extreme Conditions; UCL Laws; UCL Public Policy; UCL’s Private Law Group; and UKRI Research England.
Titled “Mapping civilian harm claims against Israel and the Palestinian Authority before Israeli courts,” it includes an interactive map that presents some 470 Israeli court cases in which civilians sought compensation under tort law for loss of life, bodily injury, and property damage during armed activities. Most claimants are Palestinian civilians injured by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The database also includes claims of other nationals and cases of Israeli civilians who sought compensation against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for the losses incurred during hostilities.
Reliefweb, a pro-Palestinian information organization provided by the UN OCHA, promotes the project. According to this research, the Israeli justice system is “shielding the Israeli Security Forces from accountability for civilian harm caused in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” The report was conducted by a group named Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, based in the UK.
This project is orchestrated by the OCHA office dealing with the “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” It claims the “protracted political crisis characterized by more than 55 years of Israeli military occupation, 15 years of the Gaza blockade, internal Palestinian divisions, and recurrent escalations of hostilities between Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups. The escalating hostilities, blockades and lack of adherence to international humanitarian and human rights law have left many people without access to life-saving medical services, clean water, education and livelihoods, and exposed them to a constant risk of violence and abuse. The humanitarian community is addressing the needs of people in the blockaded Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, where Palestinian households and communities in Area C, East Jerusalem and the H2 area of Hebron city face a coercive environment. At least 2.1 million Palestinians across oPt require humanitarian assistance, representing 58 per cent of Gaza Strip residents and one quarter of West Bank residents.”
Worth noting that OCHA provides food to the Palestinian population of 5.5 million people; they receive assistance from the World Food Program of 309.4K per month. The top five donors are the Government of Germany, $52.6 million; The Government of Japan, $26.7 million; the European Commission, $11.5 million; the Government of the United States of America, $8.3 million; and the Government of Canada, $8.2 million.
The map of civilian harm cases spans over six decades. It illustrates that the Israeli courts awarded ILS 24.4 million in compensation for death, injury, and property damages in seventy-eight successful claims. Yet, over the last ten years, the report claims that access to justice for Palestinians has been severely constrained. By contrast, it claims that Israeli courts have awarded ILS 438.7 million in compensation and costs in 24 successful claims against the Palestinian Authority in recent years. Freedom of information requests revealed that Israel paid approximately USD 94 million in compensation for losses inflicted by its security forces on the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza between 1988 and 2014.
According to this project, the “right to a remedy for the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza has been progressively limited, including through a series of procedural obstacles, high court fees and securities, the denial of entry permits to access court, and the designation of Gaza as enemy territory. The greatest impact, however, has been the growing use of an exception in the law of tort covering ‘combatant activities’, rendering the state of Israel immune from liability in such cases. A series of amendments passed by the Knesset between 2000 and 2012 widened the definition of the combatant activities exception to cover not just combat activities in the normal sense but policing activities and actions of the civil administration in support of security goals.”
Dr. Haim Abraham of the University College London, who co-leads the research on the database, was quoted as saying, “The effects of the expansion of the combatant activities exception are clear… The Israeli legislature repeatedly broadened the scope of Israel’s immunity from liability to the extent that it is nearly impossible for claims against it to succeed and courts have rejected about nine out of ten claims. Simultaneously, Israeli courts have been far more lenient towards claims against the Palestinian Authority.”
Professor Gilat Bachar of Temple University School of Law, who co-leads the research, was quoted as saying, “While Jewish Israeli citizens who are residents of the OPT have a right to claim compensation for losses they sustain from the operations of Israel’s security forces, non-Jewish residents effectively have no corresponding right… That raises serious questions about equality before the law.”
For instance, “The killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh” in May 2022 prompted a “rare level of international media interest, but was not an isolated event. Already in 2023, 174 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed according to UN OCHA.”
The report continues, The “UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law confirm that victims have a right to equal and effective access to justice, and to adequate, effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered, including in the context of armed conflict or occupation.”
According to this report, “Databases that document the losses suffered by civilians in armed conflict are highly important to the facilitation of reparations and reconciliation. Telling individual stories gives voice to vulnerable populations, and aggregating these accounts in a single resource allows the scope and character of the loss that armed conflict inflicts on a community to become apparent. Having a clear account of the wrongs committed during conflict is key to holding those responsible accountable, and accountability and reparations are cardinal to reconciliation between those who suffered the wrongful loss and those who inflicted it.”
Interestingly, according to the report, “In the context of reparation for losses civilians sustain during armed conflict and occupation, Israel offers a unique perspective. The number of cases in which Israeli courts examine the question of state liability in tort law for losses the Israeli military is alleged to have inflicted exceeds the combined cases of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Israeli cases offer a unique insight into legal institutional approaches to urban warfare and counter-terrorism, as well as to attitudes towards prolonged conflict over time.”
As can be expected, it is one-sided. The report suggests reparations for reconciliation based on the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. This approach has a major legal problem because it ignores the fact that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and others follow the asymmetrical conflict doctrine. Accordingly, when facing a militarily superior adversary, the terror groups are commanded to embed within the civilian population. In other words, non-combatants become human shields to restrict the IDF’s ability to act. It is well known that Hamas and the PIJ have been embedded in civilian spaces and neighborhoods including mosques, hospitals, and schools.
The authors of the report would be well advised to consult the literature on the use of human shields in humanitarian law and revise their project.
References
Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 —a service provided by UN OCHA
Israel’s justice system shields security forces from accountability – Launch of major new database
Format News and Press Release Source
Posted20 Jul 2023Originally published20 Jul 2023
20 July 2023
The operation of the Israeli justice system is now effectively shielding Israeli Security Forces (ISF) from accountability for civilian harm caused in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), shows a new map of nearly 500 Israeli court cases published by Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights.
The map of civilian harm cases over six decades illustrates that while Israel’s courts awarded ILS 24.4 million in compensation and costs for death, injury and property damage in 78 successful claims,[1] over the last ten years access to justice for Palestinians has been severely constrained. By contrast, in recent years Israeli courts have awarded ILS 438.7 million in compensation and costs in 24 successful claims against the Palestinian Authority.
The right to a remedy for the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza has been progressively limited, including through a series of procedural obstacles, high court fees and securities, the denial of entry permits to access court, and the designation of Gaza as enemy territory. The greatest impact, however, has been the growing use of an exception in the law of tort covering ‘combatant activities’, rendering the state of Israel immune from liability in such cases. A series of amendments passed by the Knesset between 2000 and 2012 widened the definition of the combatant activities exception to cover not just combat activities in the normal sense but policing activities and actions of the civil administration in support of security goals.
‘The effects of the expansion of the combatant activities exception are clear,’ said Dr Haim Abraham of University College London, co-lead researcher on the database. ‘The Israeli legislature repeatedly broadened the scope of Israel’s immunity from liability to the extent that it is nearly impossible for claims against it to succeed and courts have rejected about nine out of ten claims. Simultaneously, Israeli courts have been far more lenient towards claims against the Palestinian Authority.’
‘While Jewish Israeli citizens who are residents of the OPT have a right to claim compensation for losses they sustain from the operations of Israel’s security forces, non-Jewish residents effectively have no corresponding right,’ said Professor Gilat Bachar of Temple University School of Law, co-lead researcher. ‘That raises serious questions about equality before the law.’
The killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022 prompted a rare level of international media interest, but was not an isolated event. Already in 2023, 174 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed according to UN OCHA.
The UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law confirm that victims have a right to equal and effective access to justice, and to adequate, effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered, including in the context of armed conflict or occupation.
‘When Palestinians in the OPT are killed, maimed or see their houses destroyed they have a right to justice, just as Israeli citizens do,’ said Mark Lattimer, Executive Director of Ceasefire. ‘Accountability for civilian harm should not be avoided by classing law enforcement as combat.’
Notes for editors:
- Mapping civilian harm claims against Israel and the Palestinian Authority before Israeli courts, published on 19 July 2023 in English, Hebrew and Arabic, presents over 470 Israeli court cases in which civilians sought compensation under tort law for loss of life, bodily injury and property damage inflicted during armed activities. The vast majority of cases involve Palestinian civilians who were injured by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. However, the database includes claims of other nationals, as well as cases in which Israeli civilians sought compensation against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for losses incurred during hostilities.
The map is online at: https://civilian-harm-map.ceasefire.org/
- The project is a collaboration between Dr Haim Abraham (UCL Faculty of Laws), Prof Gilat Bachar (Temple University Beasley School of Law) and Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights. Map designed by Rectangle.
- The database has been made possible through support from UCL Laws, UCL Public Policy, UCL’s Private Law Group, UKRI Research England, and the University of Haifa Minerva Center for the Rule of Law Under Extreme Conditions.
[1] These figures do not include claims settled before trial, or any compensation awarded by military courts. Freedom of information requests have revealed that between 1988 and 2014 Israel paid in total approximately USD 94 million in compensation for losses inflicted by its security forces on the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza.
Report details
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- English
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https://civilian-harm-map.ceasefire.org/en/about
Mapping civilian harm claims against Israel and the Palestinian Authority before Israeli courts
This interactive map presents over 450 Israeli court cases in which civilians sought compensation under tort law for loss of life, bodily injury, and property damage inflicted during armed activities. The vast majority of cases involve Palestinian civilians who were injured by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. However, the database includes claims of other nationals, as well as cases in which Israeli civilians sought compensation against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for losses incurred during hostilities.Databases that document the losses suffered by civilians in armed conflict are highly important to the facilitation of reparations and reconciliation. Telling individual stories gives voice to vulnerable populations, and aggregating these accounts in a single resource allows the scope and character of the loss that armed conflict inflicts on a community to become apparent. Having a clear account of the wrongs committed during conflict is key to holding those responsible accountable, and accountability and reparations are cardinal to reconciliation between those who suffered the wrongful loss and those who inflicted it.In the context of reparation for losses civilians sustain during armed conflict and occupation, Israel offers a unique perspective. The number of cases in which Israeli courts examine the question of state liability in tort law for losses the Israeli military is alleged to have inflicted exceeds the combined cases of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Israeli cases offer a unique insight into legal institutional approaches to urban warfare and counter-terrorism, as well as to attitudes towards prolonged conflict over time.This project is a collaboration between Dr Haim Abraham (UCL Faculty of Laws), Prof. Gilat Bachar (Temple University Beasley School of Law), and Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights. We were assisted by Mr. Matan Flum (UCL, Bartlett Development Planning Unit).We are grateful for the supported provided by our sponsors:
- Contact Us:
- Dr Haim Abraham – haim.abraham@ucl.ac.ukProf. Gilat Bachar – gilat.bachar@temple.eduCeasefire Centre for Civilian Rights – contact@ceasefire.org
Website design and development by Rectangle
israel-academia-monitor.com 