The German Luftwaffe was supposed to have placed captured Royal Air Force and USA Air Forces in special POW camps in large German cities to prevent bombing raids. The most famous use of the expression Human Shields was during the Persian Gulf War in 1990. Saddam Hussein detained Western citizens by the hundreds to deter attacks.
It wasn't until the Taliban in 2005-6 that women and children were used as human shields. This method is illegal in 1 - 4th Geneva Conventions.
Israel itself has been accused of using detained Palestinians as human shields.
November 10, 2010
By Hanan Greenberg
It wasn't until the Taliban in 2005-6 that women and children were used as human shields. This method is illegal in 1 - 4th Geneva Conventions.
Israel itself has been accused of using detained Palestinians as human shields.
November 10, 2010
By Hanan Greenberg
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz (click here) on Tuesday demanded that the High Court review a ruling it issued last Thursday in which it declared that the 'human shield' procedure employed by the IDF when detaining Palestinian terror suspects is illegal and violates international law.
Sources at the Ministry of Defense said that Mofaz’ comments are not an attempt to subvert the Court’s decision, adding that the defense minister intends to use democratic means to revoke the ruling.
According to defense officials, the Israel Defense Forces made use of the ‘human shield’ procedure on 1,200 occasions over the last five years, and only on one occasion did a Palestinian civilian get hurt.
An 18-year-old Palestinian was killed in 2002 during one such operation....
The Geneva Conventions completely prohibits the deaths of innocent people not engaged in war and unarmed. The 'idea' of human shields until the Taliban has been the use of detained/POWs persons to give any attacks by the enemy pause. This 'strain' of human shields that Israel refers to is outside any standard definition of the military initiative. Israel states the people of Gaza are all human shields because rockets are buried in the streets. Hamas does not use schools and hospitals as stations of combat.
The entire idea an entire nation of people are used as human shields is bizarre. It doesn't hold water. The population of Gaza as of 2014 is slightly more than 1.8 million people. Currently, the approximately 180,000 have taken shelter at UN refugee camps. That hardly lends to any possibility for people to be voluntary human shields. That is bizarre. The Gazans obviously has enough freedom of movement to seek shelter where it exists. Not only are they moving freely to find shelter, they seek it. That means if there were bomb shelters for the people they would go to them to prevent their own deaths and that of their families.
This is some of the worst human rights violations I have witnessed. To think a country such as Israel can simply reek death on unprotected populations is unthinkable, yet it is happening. How did the USA and Europe ever allow this to become such a horror?
The West is suppose to be an ally to Israel, not a partner in the death of innocent people. In realizing the deaths of children that exists I can no longer consent to this human tragedy. It has to end and the Palestinians have to have a homeland with it's own sovereign borders.
The Geneva Conventions completely prohibits the deaths of innocent people not engaged in war and unarmed. The 'idea' of human shields until the Taliban has been the use of detained/POWs persons to give any attacks by the enemy pause. This 'strain' of human shields that Israel refers to is outside any standard definition of the military initiative. Israel states the people of Gaza are all human shields because rockets are buried in the streets. Hamas does not use schools and hospitals as stations of combat.
The entire idea an entire nation of people are used as human shields is bizarre. It doesn't hold water. The population of Gaza as of 2014 is slightly more than 1.8 million people. Currently, the approximately 180,000 have taken shelter at UN refugee camps. That hardly lends to any possibility for people to be voluntary human shields. That is bizarre. The Gazans obviously has enough freedom of movement to seek shelter where it exists. Not only are they moving freely to find shelter, they seek it. That means if there were bomb shelters for the people they would go to them to prevent their own deaths and that of their families.
This is some of the worst human rights violations I have witnessed. To think a country such as Israel can simply reek death on unprotected populations is unthinkable, yet it is happening. How did the USA and Europe ever allow this to become such a horror?
The West is suppose to be an ally to Israel, not a partner in the death of innocent people. In realizing the deaths of children that exists I can no longer consent to this human tragedy. It has to end and the Palestinians have to have a homeland with it's own sovereign borders.
