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At 2:45 p.m. this afternoon, Israeli helicopter gunships fired three missiles at an agricultural
shed in the Wadi Shaheen area of Bethlehem. Omar Ahmed Saada (43), a father of eleven
children, Mohammed Saleh Saada (30) a father of five, Taha Alerouj (35) also a father of five
and Issaq Ahmad Saada (51) were killed. Amjed Anan Saada (20) was seriously injured
and was taken to Beit Jalla hospital. Both Omar and Taha were known Hamas activists.
Al-Haq condemns this latest extra-judicial execution in the strongest terms. Though the Law of
Belligerent occupation confers upon an occupying power the right to take measures to ensure
public order, and the security of its forces, any action under this rubric must be within the
parameters of article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian
Persons in Time of War, which states protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to
respect for their persons
.They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected
especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof
There is no legal foundation under
international humanitarian law for killing protected persons on the basis of suspicion or even on
the basis of evidence of their supposedly threatening activities or possible future actions.
Instead, the Israeli authorities are under an obligation to attempt to arrest and detain those who
they deem are a threat to their security, and any force that is used, must be proportionate to the
harm threatened.
Extra-judicial executions are willful killings for the purposes of the Fourth Geneva Convention,
which are in principle crimes of war. State signatories to the Convention are under a legal
obligation to seek out and try those responsible for grave breaches. Those individuals who are
involved in the planning, instigation, ordering, or directly committing grave breaches are
individually responsible for the crime. |