ACCOUNTABILITY FOR VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Abstract

The  origin  of  the  Israeli-Palestine conflictcan  be  traced  back  to  Jewish  immigration  and  sectarian conflictin Mandatory Palestinebetween Jews and Arabs. It has been referred to as the world's most intractable conflictwith the ongoing Israelioccupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip reaching six decades. The core of the conflict is the  abuse  and  neglect  of  international  humanitarian  laws  by  all  parties.  At  the  general  level,  what  are  the  legal consequences when rules of international law are broken? In the context of the Occupied PalestinianTerritory, all sides are frequently accused of violating international humanitarian law as well as international human rights law. Israeli  Forces  have  been  accused  of  causing  extensive  and  unnecessary  destruction  of  civilian  property  in  the Palestinians territories contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention, or of building a wall in violation of international law,  transferring  the  Israeli  population  into  the  Occupied West  Bank  (settlements),  impeding  humanitarian  access as  well  as  committing  a  range  of  violations  of  international  humanitarian  law  during  military  operations  in  Gaza and  the  West  Bank.  Meanwhile  Palestinian  militants  in  Gaza  have  been  accused  of  making  no  attempt  to  comply with  the  principle  of  distinction  by  launching  indiscriminate  rocket  attacks  at  civilian  areas.  This  paper  observed that these violations amounts to war crimes committed by both sides but regretted that there is no political will on the  part  of  the  International  community  to  hold  them  accountable  for  war  crimes.  The  paper  recommends  a collective  action  of  the  international  community  to  punish  all  those  involved  in  the  violations  of  international humanitarian law between Israel and Palestine.