June 3, 2010
The violent attack ordered by the Israeli government and executed by its military in violation of international law on a convoy with humanitarian aid to Gaza, resulting in the deaths of at least nine innocent civilians, is yet another atrocity in the illegal and unjust siege of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian land.
We call on the academic community, the general public, international institutions, and governments to make every effort:
- to end the siege on Gaza,
- to bring a complete end to the occupation,
- to achieve an internationally guaranteed, secure, and just peace treaty between Palestinians and Israelis.
The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla by Israeli Navy Commandos on May 31, 2010
The Legal Framework of International Law
By Lynda Brayer, a human rights lawyer who specializes in the laws of war and international law in representing Palestinians. She lives in Haifa.
Crimes against the Peace and Crimes against Humanity
During the pre-dawn hours of May 31, 2010, the Israeli Navy attacked the six civilian vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The attack took place in international waters against ships flying under national flags of countries with which Israel is not at war, namely Turkey, Greece and the United States. The ships were carrying civilians from more than sixteen countries.
Salient points:
1. Since no state of war existed at the time, the attack on these vessels constitutes an act of war against those governments under whose flags the vessels were sailing.
2. The attack falls within the purview of the ius ad bellum, those laws which govern the resort to armed conflict. Israel’s action does not fall into the category of the ius in bello or the laws which govern the actual conduct of war.
3. Because this attack was carried out in international waters, the status of the relationship between Hamas, or any other Palestinian body, and the state of Israel is of no relevance whatsoever. Likewise, neither the blockade of Gaza nor Israel’s claims and legal interpretations regarding it has any bearing on its acts of aggression in international waters.
4. This is not an act of piracy. Piracy is an act of aggression carried out in international waters by individuals and not by states...
