“Israeli Troops Don’t Target Civilians”
The targeting of civilians by the Israeli Defence Forces has been described as a “widespread, as well as systematic” feature of the occupation by Amnesty International, a continuing policy which meets the criteria of “crimes against humanity” under international law.
Heavy and indiscriminate firepower
The use of heavy and indiscriminate firepower is one significant contributor according to Amnesty, Israeli actions, including “shelling and bombardments of densely populated residential areas” from tanks and helicopter gun-ships, inevitably claiming high levels of civilian casualties, and as such betraying a “lack of respect for fundamental human rights.”
“The Israeli leadership always try to make Israelis believe the lie that the Palestinians want to throw us to the sea. In fact, we are the ones who commit war crimes against humanity,” said former Israeli education minister Shulamit Aloni. “The terror utilized by Israel in the territories is worse than Palestinian terrorism.”
She added that “some soldiers behave like animals,” and expressed her surprise that Israelis continue to play the “role of victims.”
Direct targeting of civilians
Civilians are also directly targeted by IDF troops who, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, “use violence, at times gross violence, against Palestinians unnecessarily and without justification.” During the IDF’s devastating assault on Jenin refugee camp in April 2002, for instance, medics and ambulances were fired on, with a 57-year-old wheelchair-bound man being shot and run over by a tank, according to Human Rights Watch.
In May 2004, Israeli tanks and helicopters fired on peaceful demonstrators in the Gaza Strip, shelling continuing, according to HRW, “as protestors sought to evacuate the wounded.”
According to the Health Development Information and Policy Institute (HDIP), 82% of Palestinians killed since the start of the most recent intifada have been civilians.
HRW said: “The Israeli military has fostered a climate of impunity in its ranks by failing to thoroughly investigate whether soldiers have killed and injured Palestinian civilians unlawfully or failed to protect them from harm.”
B’Tselem said this “has led to a trigger-happy attitude”, and “extensive harm to Palestinian civilians.”
“Human shields”
IDF soldiers routinely force Palestinian civilians to become human shields, according to HRW, forcing them at gunpoint to “open suspicious packages, knock on doors of suspects, and search the houses of ‘wanted’ Palestinians during its military operations.” Palestinian civilians present during the assault on Jenin, for example, described how “the IDF soldiers had forced them to stand in front of the soldiers as they fired at Palestinian gunmen, while resting their rifles on the shoulders of the Palestinian civilians.”
On 12 October 2005, Aljazeera reported that “the Israeli army has signalled its intention to keep using Palestinian civilians as human shields in operations aimed at assassinating, arresting or kidnapping Palestinian political and resistance activists,” despite a ruling a few days earlier by Israel’s High Court barring the practice on the grounds that it violated international law.
Targeting of foreign civilians
Non-violent activists, delegations of MPs and humanitarian workers have also been targeted by the IDF. In June 2004 for instance, a Christian Aid fact-finding delegation was fired on in Rafah. “I can't believe they fired at us,” said Sarah Malian, who was with the delegation. “We were clearly civilians. We were surrounded by children at the time.” Two days later, a group of British MPs and peers were shot at in the same place.
In March 2003, Rachel Corrie, an American activist, was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to prevent a house demolition in the Gaza strip; in April 2003 British peace activist Tom Hurndall was shot by an Israeli soldier. In May 2003 James Miller, a British cameraman and documentary maker, was shot in the neck; and in November of the same year, Iain Hook, a 50-year-old working on a UN project to rebuild Jenin refugee camp, was shot in the back.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1066845,00.html
Israel, in fact, is no different than racist South Africa as long as it presents itself as Jewish state instead of a state of all its citizens