ICSPR: THE ISRAELI DECISION TO PREVENT CASES FROM PASSING THROUGH CHECKPOINTS UNDER THE PRETEXT OF BELONGING TO HAMAS IS NOT JUSTIFIED, PART OF THE COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT AND VIOLATED THE HUMANITARIAN LAW PRINCIPLES.
ICSPR: the Israeli decision to prevent cases from passing through checkpoints under the pretext of belonging to Hamas is not justified, part of the collective punishment and violated the humanitarian law principles.
On Monday, January 15, 2018 The International Commission to Support the Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) followed with deep concern the local reports about issuing the Israeli government a decision to prevent humanitarian cases and their families to cross Errez checkpoint under the pretext of belonging to Hamas.
ICSPR condemns the new Israeli decision and warns of its consequences on the ground. The decision puts the lives of thousands of Palestinians civilians in the circle of threat and grave danger. ICSPR urges the international community to ensure that the rule of international law has the priority over the international relation. ICSPR continues that the international community has an ethical and legal obligation to put pressure on the Israeli occupation, including cutting diplomatic relations and imposing sanction as a response for the Israeli violation of the international law its stable principles.
1- ICSPR believes that the new Israeli decision comes in the context of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip over the last 11 years, which led to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
2- ICSPR confirms that the decision creates a real threat to the lives of thousands of Palestinian citizens and civilians, especially the sick, in light of the weak capabilities and possibilities of the medical sector in Gaza.
3- ICSPR asserts that the new Israeli decision violates the principles of international humanitarian law, including the established standards set forth in the Guide of Direct Participation in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law, issued in 2009 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
4- ICSPR considers this decision as a continuation of the collective punishment policy, which is prohibited by international law and justice, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, which prohibits 33 collective punishment. The decision also constitutes a clear violation of article 50 of the Hague Regulations And the Customs of the Land War of 1907, which states that no collective punishment, financial or otherwise, shall be imposed against the population for acts committed by individuals, and these people can not be collectively responsible.
5- ICSPR calls upon the international community to declare its rejection of this unjust, inhuman and illegal decision and to exert sufficient political, economic and legal pressure to ensure that Israel retreats from this decision. Otherwise, the international community will become involved in a crime that might leave hundreds of victims.
