One of the Israeli justifications for killing and wounding Lebanese civilians is that they were warned to leave the targeted area, so they stay at their own risk. However, there are several factors that make this argument redundant.
- Human rights groups have said civilians have not been given enough time to evacuate. For instance, Human Rights Watch says that in some cases, the Israeli army has "dropped leaflets giving residents only two hours warning before a threatened attack."
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebano13748.htm#12
- Many civilians have nowhere to flee to and no one to take them in, especially as they tend to be large families.
- The sick and poor are financially or physically unable to leave their homes. The "vast majority" of the "tens of thousands" of Lebanese south of the Litani River "is unable to flee due to destroyed roads, a lack of gasoline, high taxi fares, sick relatives, or ongoing Israeli attacks," says HRW. "The sick and poor are those who mostly remain behind."
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/30/lebano13881.htm
- As well as a sea blockade, countless roads and bridges have been bombed and destroyed, not just within Lebanon but also those leading to Syria, making it almost impossible for civilians to travel within the country or leave it.
"Israel's relentless bombing of roads and bridges has also made it extremely difficult for civilians in south Lebanon to flee north following warnings from Israel," says Amnesty International, adding: "Many fear they are more likely to be attacked on the road."
http://news.amnesty.org/index/engmde020022006
The BBC has described "long queues of taxis and cars negotiating bomb-cratered roads and making detours around destroyed bridges."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5207152.stm
- There have been many media reports, eye-witness accounts and allegations by human rights groups of Israel bombing cars and convoys transporting civilians away from areas threatened with attack, causing them to be too scared to flee. For instance, the Washington Post reported that Israeli forces have "repeatedly struck cars on southern Lebanon's already perilous roads in attacks that victims said were indiscriminate."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300507.html
The Los Angeles Times reported that "with deadly force," Israeli warplanes have "hit fleeing Lebanese civilians…following Israeli warnings to evacuate."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-072306lebanon,0,549822.story
The Sydney Morning Herald reported: "Judging by the list of actual targets hit so far, what Israeli security experts term 'the target bank' includes, in practice, civilian homes, minibuses and cars, as terrified families try to run away."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/grim-proof-ordinary-folk-are-dying-in-the-killing-zone/2006/07/19/1153166454900.html
US National Public Radio has said that despite Israeli warnings to evacuate, Lebanese civilians have been killed "trying to do just that."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5577538
HRW researchers "have documented dozens of cases in which Israeli forces have carried out indiscriminate attacks against civilians while in their homes or traveling on roads to flee the fighting."
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/30/lebano13881.htm
"Time after time, Israel strikes at civilian homes and civilian vehicles attempting to flee the besieged southern border zone, killing families without any military objective in sight," says Peter Bouckaert, HRW emergencies director.
"In several cases where Israeli forces gave warning to residents of certain towns or villages in southern Lebanon, they then attacked those trying to flee," Amnesty has said, adding: "Under customary international law, intentionally launching a disproportionate or indiscriminate attack or intentionally directing attacks at civilians or civilian objects is a war crime."
http://news.amnesty.org/index/engmde020022006
Countless more examples can be cited. Indeed, the BBC has reported that "many people say they are reluctant to move without UN protection."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5207152.stm
- The bombing of cars, trucks and vans, and the shortage of fuel, have made it difficult for civilians to transport belongings, thus making them reluctant to leave without basic necessities, particularly for large families. Fuel shortages have also made taxi fares too expensive for many.
- While southern Lebanon has taken the brunt of Israeli attacks, bombardments have taken place throughout the country, so it is impossible to call any part of the country safe, especially when Israeli military and government officials have said as much. For example, Israel's army chief Dan Halutz has said that "nothing is safe" in Lebanon. What incentive, then, for civilians to leave their homes?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/13/world/main1798784.shtml
- Many civilians are staying put because they believe Israel does not have the right to force them to leave. For them, it is too much to bear to leave homes they have lived in all their lives, for an uncertain future, not knowing whether they will return to a standing house, how long they will be refugees, or even whether they will be able to return at all, especially considering Israel's 'security' or 'buffer' zone in Lebanon which HRW says will make it an occupying power again under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949:
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebano13748.htm#19
Remember that the last Israeli occupation of Lebanon lasted 18 years, and Palestinians made refugees in 1948 are still dispossessed.
"You cannot rid yourself of your responsibility by dropping leaflets," says Jakob Kellenberger, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"Israeli warnings of imminent attacks do not turn civilians into military targets," says HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth.
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/02/lebano13902.htm
"The Israeli military cannot warn people to leave and then attack at will. The warnings are not an excuse to shoot blindly at anyone who remains," he added.
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/03/lebano13910.htm
"Civilians who do not evacuate following warnings are still fully protected by international law," says HRW. "Otherwise, warring parties could use warnings to cause forced displacement, threatening civilians with deliberate harm if they did not heed them. So, even after warnings have been given, attacking forces must still take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of civilian life and property. This includes canceling an attack when it becomes apparent that the target is civilian or that the civilian loss would be disproportionate to the expected military gain."
For example, Roth said: "Just because the Israeli military warned the civilians of Qana to leave does not give it carte blanche to blindly attack."
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/30/lebano13881.htm
Even the Daily Telegraph, known for its pro-Israel editorial policy, said that "the Israeli military's claim that the people of Qana had been warned to leave is simply gratuitous. Most of them, it seems, had neither the means nor the opportunity to flee."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=KIDSQY5HJLBIPQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/opinion/2006/07/31/dl3101.xml
"International humanitarian law also prohibits 'acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population'," adds HRW. "Statements calling for the evacuation of areas that are not genuine warnings, but are primarily intended to cause panic among residents or compel them to leave their homes for reasons other than their safety, would fall under this prohibition."
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/17/lebano13748.htm#12
This would seem to include the statement by Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter that "tens of thousands of Lebanese who will flee towards the north will create the right pressure on Hezbollah."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1687847.htm
Amnesty states: "Reports that Israel has warned all civilians living south of the Litani River to leave the area demonstrates how the concept of effective warning is being distorted. If anything, such a warning to over 400,000 people seems only to spread panic among the civilian population, rather than enhance their safety."
http://news.amnesty.org/index/engmde020022006
Safety for Lebanese civilians seems to be the last thing on the mind of Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon who, according to HRW, reportedly said: "All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."
Indeed, "although mistakes are made in the fog of fighting, the pattern of Israeli behavior in southern Lebanon suggests a deliberate policy," says Bouckaert. "My notebook overflows with reports of civilian deaths, day after day."
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/31/isrlpa13882.htm