UK High Court of Justice to Hear Legal Challenge on UK Sale of Arms-Related Equipment to Israel
19 September 2007
A full public hearing will be held before the UK High Court of Justice in London on 10 -11 October 2007 in the case of R (Saleh Hasan) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Following the blanket refusal by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to respond to the claimant’s request for a justification of UK policy on arms-related sales to Israel, the High Court will hear arguments in a claim filed on 15 November 2006 by UK Solicitor Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), in cooperation with Al-Haq.
PIL will argue that the UK’s sale of arms-related equipment to Israel is in breach of UK obligations under international law as well as UK statutory law, specifically, the UK Export Control Act of 2002, which incorporates the “consolidated criteria” governing the export of military equipment. According to these criteria, the UK government may not issue export licenses to countries where there is a clear risk that the export might be used for “[i]nternal repression…in violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms as set out in relevant international human rights instruments” or where export would be “inconsistent with…the UK’s international obligations”. The “consolidated criteria” also makes clear that “special caution and vigilance” should be exercised in the case of prospective arms-related sales to countries where serious human rights violations have been established by competent bodies.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest judicial authority in the United Nations, in its 2004 advisory opinion on the legality of the Israeli Annexation Wall definitively established that Israel’s human rights record is severely compromised. The Court declared the illegality of the construction of the Wall and its associated regime in the West Bank under both international human rights and humanitarian law. The ICJ called for its dismantling and found that all States have a legal obligation to neither recognise the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the Wall nor render any aid or assistance in maintaining the situation.
The claimant, Saleh Hasan, a 60-year old resident of Bethlehem, is one of tens of thousands of Palestinians who until now have found no effective remedy for Israel’s unlawful acts. In 2005, Israel used military equipment to bulldoze agricultural assets and permanently confiscate his land in order to make way for the Wall. That same year, one year after the ICJ advisory opinion on the Wall, the UK’s arms-related exports to Israel saw a two-fold increase.
PIL will argue that the UK government had and continues to have clear evidence from authoritative international bodies that Israel might use equipment imported from the UK for purposes prohibited under the “consolidated criteria.” As such PIL will seek a declaration from the High Court that in future the UK Government must be transparent about how it has satisfied itself that there is no risk of a breach of these criteria and to make publicly available information that establishes there is no risk of any arms related products from the UK being used for repressive purposes. In the absence of any legal justification for continuing its current policy, Al-Haq, PIL and Palestinians like Saleh Hasan call on the UK government to suspend all arms-related exports to Israel until such time as Israel complies in full with its obligations under international law.
This hearing is of great significance, and any support you can offer is most welcome. Aside from actually attending the hearing, it would be greatly appreciated if you could forward this letter to any other parties you think may be interested. Al-Haq is in the process of organising various public meetings prior to the hearing. Please do not hesitate to contact haq@alhaq.org if you have any questions, comments or require further information pertaining to the case.
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) deplores the unanimous decision by the Israeli cabinet to impose sanctions on supplies of electricity, fuel and other basic goods and services to the civilian population of Gaza, and calls upon the international community to prevent this crime against humanity from being carried out. Indeed, the very legal framework invoked by Israel to carry out this illegal and immoral act – declaring Gaza a “hostile entity” within a “conflict short of war” – has absolutely no standing in international law. The collective punishment of an entire civilian population, by contrast, is explicitly prohibited.
We call on the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, to urgently convene the Security Council in order to tell the Israeli government that this step is completely unacceptable and must be rescinded.
We call on the governments of the world, and in particular the American government and the European Parliament, to censure this decision, especially in light of recent attempts to revive the diplomatic process.
We call on the world’s religious leaders to condemn this blatant violation of human rights and the most fundamental assault on human life and dignity, made especially poignant as it is being implemented during the holy month of Ramadan. As Israelis, most of whom are Jews, we call upon Jewish leaders to speak out unequivocally against this offence against Jewish values on the eve of Yom Kippur
And we call upon the peoples of the world to let their officials and leaders know of their repudiation of this cruel, illegal and immoral act – an act that stands out in its cruelty even in an already oppressive Israeli Occupation. ICAHD condemns attacks on all civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinian. Violations of international law by governments affecting millions of people are, however, especially egregious and must be denounced.
Israel’s decision to punish Gaza’s civilian population, with all the human suffering that entails, constitutes an instance of State Terrorism against innocent people. Only when Israel is held accountable for its actions and international law upheld will a just peace be possible in the Middle East.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) assaulted Al Ayn refugee camp in Nablus. The IOF attacked the camp and were met with fierce resistance from inside the camp. One soldier and one resistance fighter was killed.
The camp was closed off and a curfew was put in place. A road block of earth was set up to stop people and vehicles from entering the camp. Ambulances gathered on Jamal Abdel Nasser street, the main entrance to the camp. They then dropped tear gas upwind of the ambulances, causing the crews to leave the area or seek shelter in their vehicles.
An injured 17 year old was taken to the roadblock and put into an ambulance. The soldiers took the keys out of the ignition, forcing the ambulance to wait until an army medic had declared ‘whether he was dead or not’. The family of the gunshot victim were forcibly removed from the ambulance. Nervous soldiers were very aggressive with the press throughout.
Palestinian Medical Relief worker is arrested and blindfolded for trying to access the wounded. Three medical workers were arrested during the invasion.
An ISM Human Rights Worker (HRW) was filming an army jeep when the soldier in the back of the jeep attempted to throw a tear gas grenade at the HRW. He set it off in the back of his own jeep instead. Soldiers piled out of the jeep choking on their own tear gas. It seemed they threw a sound bomb at the HRW and ambulance crews who had witnessed the mistake out of embarrassment.
Excessive repression was carried out all day against youths throwing rocks at army jeeps, humvees and bulldozers. HRWs and Palestinian ambulance crews repeatedly tried to enter the camp. Urgently needed water, bread and medical supplies were not allowed in by the army. All negotiations with the IOF failed, both with the soldiers on the ground and the local DCO “humanitarian office”.
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Smoke rises from Israeli army activity in the besieged camp.
Wednesday, September 19th:
The lock down of Al Ayn refugee camp continued. After two nights of curfew and no medical teams entering, ambulance crews were anxious to get in and tend to the wounded. The IOF responded to the requests of the medics by firing rubber coated steel bullets at them. The ambulances were hit repeatedly, and after sustaining damage to windscreens and the vehicle bodies, were made to leave the area. At 10:20am ambulance crews and two ISM HRWs tried to gain access to the medical clinic but were forced back by concussion grenades and rubber coated steel bullets.
At mid-day a large, colourful, non-violent protest march approached the camp. There were around 200 Palestinians waving flags and chanting songs. The army fired tear gas at the back of the procession, into a large group of women. They then fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the rest of the protesters. In the ensuing chaos people were hit by grenades and rubber bullets. The army fired indiscriminately into the crowd to create as much pain and havoc as possible.
One HRW and an ambulance crew bravely broke the curfew. They ran past soldiers taking desperately needed medical supplies into the camp. They stayed for the rest of the evening giving out food and medicine to the trapped occupants of the camp. At around 6pm one ambulance with medicines supplied by an ISM HRW was allowed into the camp, bringing much needed relief to families trapped in the nightmare of the IOF invasion. During the curfew on this day, a 38 year old handicapped man in a wheelchair was shot while he was looking out his window. The situation continues with ambulance crews and HRWs on stand-by all through the night waiting for the next opportunity to gain access to the terrified inhabitants of the camp.
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Local Palestinians are arrested while demonstrating non-violently against the invasion.
Thursday, September 20th:
ISM HRWs came to the camp at 8:30am and saw the UN and the Red Cross among other NGOs on the scene for the first time.
A couple of ambulances were allowed into the camp at 9:00am to bring much needed relief and aid to the camp inhabitants. At around 10:30am two people were arrested and taken from the mosque in handcuffs, into an armoured personnel carrier. One medic was arrested from the clinic on Jammal Abdel Nasser street. The IOF entered the clinic and checked everyone’s IDs. The medic was released late in the evening after being badly beaten with sticks during his incarceration.
A peaceful demonstration was held in solidarity with the besieged camp. After speeches were made in the centre of Nablus the march began at 11:10am. There were colourful banners waved as the city’s people showed their support for the inhabitants on the streets for the second day running. As the marcher approached the camp, they were subjected to a hail of sound grenades and tear gas. The tear gas turned the crowd of peaceful demonstrators into a scene of fear and chaos.
A building that was home to fifty children and their families is destroyed, they were given minutes notice.
Along with a Palestinian medical crew three ISM HRWs gained access to the inside of the camp. After sneaking over rough ground, the group stopped when faced with an IOF jeep standing in their way. The group gathered their courage and had the internationals in the front as they walked past the jeep. Around the corner were three or four more IOF vehicles forcing the medics and HRWs to dash down an alley and into the camp.
Urgently needed medical supplies were distributed to the grateful residents in their homes. Danger was always wearing a uniform as the medics moved around the camp. HRWs led the way calling out ‘volunteer’ so any trigger-happy soldiers knew they were a medical crew. A student from Tulkarem had been trapped in the camp since Tuesday morning. One HRW gave her his high-visibility jacket so she could leave with the team and return home. While exiting the camp the medics and activists were attacked by the IOF with sound bombs. All they wanted was to bring more supplies in to the needy people but were threatened with being shot by soldiers.
At 5pm a building which housed around fifty children, recently visited by the medics and activists in the camp, was blown up by the IOF. This illegal act of collective punishment was because a cousin of one of the residents was wanted by the Israeli Army. Later in the evening the IOF set off a series of large explosions in the camp. The explosions lasted for around 20 minutes and many homes were destroyed. The city shuddered as the IOF continued its operations in Al Ayn refugee camp.
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Medical workers must go through extensive searches and ID checks while attempting to deliver food and medicine to the camp under curfew.
Friday, September 21st:
After a three day siege of Al-Ain Refugee camp, IOF left the camp around 5am this morning. Residents were able to leave their homes for the first time since it began. At least two Palestinians were killed and an unknown number of people are injured. 49 residents of the camp were also arrested. Many homes in the camp showed signs of extensive damage.
The IOF blew many doors off their hinges and bullets and tear gas canisters could be found on the ground in many places throughout the camp. At least one house, which had been the residence of fifty children, was completely destroyed by explosives. Several other houses had gaping holes in walls and showed signs of attempted demolition. Today, children sat in the rubble where their house once stood.
International activists spoke with several residents of the camp, who described experiences of being without food, water and medicine. One woman spoke of being beaten by IOF soldiers outside of her home. A member of a Palestinian relief organization told activists that three medics had been arrested over the course of the invasion, with one still being held captive.
The bodies of the two Palestinians killed during the invasion were carried through the streets by hundreds of mourners who remembered with rage the brutal treatment they have endured by the IOF.
Palestinian and international HRWs walk along the destroyed route the Israeli army took through the camp.
by Mohammed Khatib
On September 4, after nearly three years of nonviolent protests by our village of Bil’in, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Israel’s wall here must be moved further west, returning 250 acres of our farmland. In Bil’in we celebrated, along with our Israeli and international supporters.
But Israel’s Supreme Court demonstrated both the power of nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation, and its limits. On September 5 the court rejected our petition to stop the construction of another Israeli settlement, Mattiyahu East, on our land even further to the west. Israel, with US support, appears determined to retain major West Bank settlement blocs, including one west of Bil’in, that carve the West Bank into bantustans.
Bil’in is a West Bank agricultural village with 1600 residents located just east of “the Green Line”, the pre-1967 border between the West Bank and Israel. In Bil’in, as in tens of Palestinian villages, Israel exploited security justifications to build a wall deep inside the West Bank and seize Palestinian land for illegal settlements. Israel trapped 60% of our land behind the wall, mostly olive groves that we depend on.
In December, 2004 when the Israeli army started bulldozing our land and uprooting olive trees to build the wall, we went to our fields to protest. We learned from other West Bank villages that nonviolently resisted the wall, and we studied Gandhi, King and Mandela.
We developed creative activities for our weekly protests. One Friday, activists locked themselves inside a cage, representing the wall’s impacts. Another time, we built a Palestinian “outpost” on our village’s land located behind the wall and next to an Israeli settlement, mimicking the Israeli strategy of establishing outposts to expand settlements.
Another Friday we handed the Israeli soldiers a letter saying, “Had you come here as guests, we would show you the trees that our grandfathers planted here, and the vegetables that we grow… There will never be security for any of us until Israelis respect our rights to this land.”
We hosted two international conferences on nonviolent resistance, and many Israeli and international activists responded to our call to join us in a “joint struggle.” Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners suffered patiently together as the soldiers met our nonviolent actions with teargas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and clubs. Over 800 activists were injured in 200 demonstrations. An Israeli attorney and a Bil’in resident both suffered permanent brain damage from rubber-coated steel bullets shot from close range. Another Palestinian lost sight in one eye. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders, were arrested. Some spent months in prison.
Our achievements are due to our persistence, the worldwide media attention we attracted, and the support we gained from committed Israeli activists.
We never expected much from the occupier’s courts. The Israeli official who planned the wall told the Washington Post last month that he lost only three legal challenges to the wall’s path, out of 120 appeals filed, this though the wall isolates 10% of the West Bank and was ruled illegal where it is built inside the West Bank by the International Court of Justice.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Still, Israel’s Supreme Court legalized the settlement of Mattiyahu East on our land, even though Mattiyahu East appeared to violate even Israeli law because it lacked an approved building permit.
The rush to build followed President Bush’s April, 2004 letter to then Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon stating that, “new realities on the ground, including already existing population centers” make it unrealistic to expect Israel to withdraw completely to the Green Line. Israel responded by expanding “existing population centers”, building huge apartment complexes, like Mattiyahu East, for hundreds of thousands of people, and calling them neighborhoods in existing settlements.
These expanding settlement blocs fall conveniently on Israel’s side of the wall. Strategically situated, the settlement blocs divide the West Bank into four isolated regions. Therefore, their annexation to Israel will render any Palestinian state unviable. Yet annexation of the settlement blocs is reportedly central to new Israeli government peace proposals to Palestinian President Abbas.
We will continue to challenge these expanding settlements because they threaten the futures of Bil’in and the Palestinian people. And we will put our experience at the service of other communities struggling against the wall and settlements. From Bil’in, we call on Israeli and international activists to join us as we renew our joint struggle for freedom.
Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of Bil’in’s Village Council.
By DAN IZENBERG
Brian Avery, the American human rights activist who was shot in the face and badly wounded in the West Bank in 2003, took the stand for the first time since the incident in the opening hearing of a civil suit in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Thursday that he filed for damages against the state. International Solidarity Movement volunteer Brian Avery from Chapel Hill, NC.
Photo: AP [file] , AP
Avery, 29, was shot on April 5, 2003 in Jenin when he and several other members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) went out to investigate whether there had been casualties that needed medical help after hearing gunshots.
He charged that as he and a colleague, Tobias Karrson, were heading towards the meeting place with the other four ISM volunteers, they ran into an IDF patrol consisting of an armored personal carrier and a tank. According to his account, he and Karrson stopped in their tracks and held out their arms to demonstrate that they were not armed. They were also wearing red reflector vests with the word “doctor” in English and Arabic. Avery said that despite the fact that there was still light and the street lamps had already been turned on, the APC opened fire, hitting him in the face, smashing his jaw and the bone beneath his eye and severely disfiguring him.
Until last year, and then only because of the intervention of the High Court of Justice, the army refused to conduct a criminal investigation on the grounds that there was no IDF record of a shooting incident taking place at the time and place claimed by Avery and the other five ISM volunteers who said they had witnessed the incident.
According to an investigation conducted by the commander of the Menashe Brigade, the patrol had been involved in four clashes with civilians during that day. Although one took place close to the site of the shooting described by Avery, and the soldiers reported firing eight to 10 rounds, they said they had aimed at the road and did not report any casualties.
Avery petitioned the High Court of Justice on December 12, 2004, demanding that the Military Criminal Investigation Division investigate the incident. On November 27, 2006, after the court had issued a show-cause order instructing the state to explain why it refused to do so, the state caved in.
“The Military Advocate-General believes there is no reason to change his predecessor’s decision not to order a criminal investigation,” it told the court. “Despite this, and in order to remove any doubt regarding the seriousness of the army’s field investigation, the Military Advocate-General has decided, above and beyond the call of duty, to order the Military Police to launch an investigation.” Meanwhile, however, Avery also launched a civil suit for damages against the state for the injuries and suffering he sustained.
Although Israel funded Avery’s recuperation and operations in Israel, it has not paid for any of the extensive reconstruction work done on his face after he returned to the US.
Avery arrived here on Sunday together with three of the ISM volunteers who said they had witnessed the shooting, Lasse Schmidt, Ewa Jasiewicz and Jens Grandin. The four testified before Military Police investigators and on Tuesday went to the site in Jenin to reconstruct the incident.
Avery told The Jerusalem Post that the investigators had behaved “very professionally and were courteous and accommodating.” On Thursday, the civil trial began, with Avery being represented by Attorney Shlomo Lecker.
The court has divided the suit into two parts. In the first part, which is taking place now, it will determine whether the army was responsible for shooting Avery. If it decides that it was, it will determine the amount of damages Avery should receive.
