The Israeli high court yesterday ruled that the army's long-standing practice of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in combat is illegal under international law. It said the military's claim to have amended the procedure to allow civilians to "volunteer" to work with the army was still unacceptable because it was unlikely anyone would freely do so.
"You cannot exploit the civilian population for the army's military needs, and you cannot force them to collaborate," said the Israeli chief justice, Aharon Barak. "Based on this principle, we rule it illegal to use civilians as human shields."
The case was brought more than three years ago by human rights organisations that said the army routinely forced Palestinian civilians into dangerous situations as a means to protect soldiers. Some of the most common methods were to force Palestinians into buildings to see if they were booby-trapped, or to enter the hideouts of wanted men and tell them to surrender. Soldiers also forced civilians to stand in front of them when on patrol.
At least one human shield was killed, and others have been wounded. Nidal Daraghmeh, a 19-year-old Palestinian student, was shot dead after troops forced him to knock on the door of a wanted Hamas fugitive and shooting broke out.
Seven Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups told the court the use of civilians in any capacity in military operations breached the Geneva conventions.
Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem, one of the groups, said the ruling would lead to an explicit order to the military high command, forbidding the use of civilians in operations: "A lot of this has to do with the way things get handed down from the high command to the soldiers in the field. In a combat situation there is a more liberal interpretation of the rules. This is why international law forbids the use of civilians at all."
Yesterday's ruling came after a temporary injunction preventing the use of human shields was issued in 2002. The army then said it would no longer use human shields, but it continued to ask civilians to "volunteer" as go-betweens on missions to hunt wanted Palestinians.
But Judge Barak said this still breached the Geneva conventions' bar on an occupying army using civilians in military operations. He also questioned whether anyone really volunteered for such operations. "Ninety-nine out of 100 times, it's not free will. I am concerned that when an army unit comes at night, no one will refuse to collaborate, out of fear," he said.
Among the affidavits submitted to the court was one by a soldier, Gideon Etzion, who said that when his unit was ordered to use Palestinian civilians it was not mentioned that they must not be put at risk. He said officers laughed at the rule that civilians must volunteer. "What civilian would refuse a 'request' at 3am by a group of soldiers aiming their weapons at him?" Mr Etzion wrote.
The ruling had a mixed reception from Israeli politicians. Zahava Galon, an MP for the leftwing Meretz party, said: "The high court has ruled that an army in a democratic state cannot act like terror gangs." But Effie Eitam, an MP for the National Religious party, said the court had bound the hands of the army.
How they've been deployed
The Israeli army used Palestinian civilians as human shields in a variety of combat situations:
· Forcing them to enter the homes of wanted men to tell them to surrender, or ordering them to enter suspected booby-trapped buildings
· Placing civilians between troops and hostile crowds to discourage stone-throwing or shooting
· Troops standing behind a Palestinian and then firing over the civilian's shoulder during combat
· Palestinian families locked into a room after the army commandeered their homes as military posts, to discourage militants from attacking
· Civilians ordered to pick up suspected bombs on roads