Lawrence Davidson: Does International Law Have a Future?
[Lawrence Davidson is professor of history at West Chester University. He is the author of numerous books, including Islamic Fundamentalism and America's Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood.]
Back on 23 August 2010 Israel’s most prestigious human rights organization, B’Tselem released a short report on the condition of water supplies in the Gaza Strip. Referencing the United Nations Environment Programme as well as the Palestine Water Authority, B’Tselem reported that the Strip’s underground water system is in such bad repair that, even if rehabilitation was begun immediately, it would take 20 years for it to be restructured as a modern system. This is compounded by the dilapidated state of the Gaza wastewater-system, which is also antiquated. As a result it is estimated that "40 per cent of the incidence of disease in Gaza is related to polluted drinking water"....
Back in September 2001 George Washington University professor Thomas Nagy revealed the existence of Defense Intelligence Agency documents "proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the US government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country’s water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway."...
Neither American nor Israeli behaviour is legal under international law. It is all a violation of Article 54 of Protocol I, Part IV, of the Geneva Conventions (1977)....
This state of affairs raises the seminal question of what will be the fate of international law as it applies to the protection of civilian populations? Today, the most we can say is that enforcement is selective and, in a certain odd way, "class based". In other words if you are the leader of a small state lacking a great power patron you are indeed subject to this sort of international law. For example, if you are the leader of Serbia, Sudan, Chile, Rwanda, Congo, etc. and persecute civilian populations you have a rather good chance of being brought before a tribunal such as the International Criminal Court. If, however, you are American, Israeli, Russian, Chinese or British leader, etc. you have almost zero risk. You know the statue of justice standing blindfolded holding up a scale? Well, she is peeking....
Read entire article at Al-Jazeerah
Back on 23 August 2010 Israel’s most prestigious human rights organization, B’Tselem released a short report on the condition of water supplies in the Gaza Strip. Referencing the United Nations Environment Programme as well as the Palestine Water Authority, B’Tselem reported that the Strip’s underground water system is in such bad repair that, even if rehabilitation was begun immediately, it would take 20 years for it to be restructured as a modern system. This is compounded by the dilapidated state of the Gaza wastewater-system, which is also antiquated. As a result it is estimated that "40 per cent of the incidence of disease in Gaza is related to polluted drinking water"....
Back in September 2001 George Washington University professor Thomas Nagy revealed the existence of Defense Intelligence Agency documents "proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the US government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country’s water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway."...
Neither American nor Israeli behaviour is legal under international law. It is all a violation of Article 54 of Protocol I, Part IV, of the Geneva Conventions (1977)....
This state of affairs raises the seminal question of what will be the fate of international law as it applies to the protection of civilian populations? Today, the most we can say is that enforcement is selective and, in a certain odd way, "class based". In other words if you are the leader of a small state lacking a great power patron you are indeed subject to this sort of international law. For example, if you are the leader of Serbia, Sudan, Chile, Rwanda, Congo, etc. and persecute civilian populations you have a rather good chance of being brought before a tribunal such as the International Criminal Court. If, however, you are American, Israeli, Russian, Chinese or British leader, etc. you have almost zero risk. You know the statue of justice standing blindfolded holding up a scale? Well, she is peeking....