Gaza a withdrawal violates U.S. law?

Legal clause may bar Israel from using American arms against Gaza settlers. Since it may be against U.S. law to use American weapons or aid to carry out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to remove Jewish settlers from their homes in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, according to legal analysts and key Israeli politicians.

The Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli police, many of whom use American-made weapons given to Israel as part of a multi-billion dollar aide package, this summer will enforce the evacuation of Jews from the Gaza Strip and certain key West Bank settlements.

Gaza Settlers Protest against Sharon’s threat of sending them back into Exile, as against Moses who brought them back from bondage and exile in Egypt. Interestingly, it may be against U.S. law to use American weapons or aid to carry out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to remove Jewish settlers from their homes in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, according to legal analysts and key Israeli politicians. We hope this point is brought to the attention of the Pentagon to exercise necessary restraints on the IDF (Israel Defense Forces and the Sharon administration.

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After a series of maneuvers within his own party, Sharon now seems likely to survive a crucial vote on the national budget next week and press ahead with the plan to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

A clause of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, which governs the use of foreign aid, may bar Israel from using American weapons while carrying out the Gaza disengagement, some say.

The clause restricts nations receiving U.S. financial assistance from using that aid to subjugate human rights or civil liberties or to conduct policies inconsistent with international law.

Section 502B, the "Human Rights" amendment added to the Act in 1979, states, "a principal goal of the foreign policy of the United States shall be to promote the increased observance of internationally recognized human rights by all countries … no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

"The President is directed to formulate and conduct international security assistance programs of the United States in a manner which will promote and advance human rights and avoid identification of the United States, through such programs, with governments which deny to their people internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international law or in contravention of the policy of the United States."

This law defines ''gross violations of internationally recognized human rights'' as including the "flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons."

Dr. Eliav Schochetman, dean of Israel's Sha'arei Mishpat Law School and professor emeritus of Jewish law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, told WorldNetDaily the Gaza withdrawal violates the humanitarian clause of the U.S. law governing foreign aid.

"There can be no doubt uprooting Jews from their homes against their will in Gaza and parts of the West Bank violates multiple tenets of many human rights accords," said Schochetman. "This is patently obvious."

The law professor recently testified to Knesset that the Israeli government's withdrawal decision represents a "wanton violation of basic human rights and civil liberties" protected under Israeli and international human rights law, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which he says all democratic governments are adherents, and according to Israel's Dignity of Man Law enacted by the Knesset in 1992 to defend basic civil rights, among them the right of each individual to freedom and to state-enforced protection of his property.

Knesset member Uzi Landau, one of the leading anti-disengagement forces within Sharon's Likud party, told WND, "The decision process of disengagement is democratically illegitimate. The removal of Jews from their houses, from their jobs constitutes a clear violation of their dignity and human rights. They can live anywhere else, but not where they live now just because they are Jewish? This is madness that stinks of clear civil liberties issues."

Knesset member and former Tourism Minister Benny Elon told WND, "The army of Israel is a part of the people in Israel. Its uniform doesn't belong to one party or on opinion. It represents everyone. To use soldiers that protect our nation from enemies to carry out a controversial order against their parents or brothers or sisters by removing them from their homes is against the very soul of this country. As well, it is against the Bible, against the covenant, and against the most basic humanitarian law that governs democracy."

But Ra'anan Gissin, chief spokesman for Sharon, told WND he believes the Gaza disengagement doesn't violate any clause that governs civil liberties or human rights.

"We're not subjugating anything," he insisted. "The entire Gaza withdrawal was done by a democratic process. The decision was made in full consideration to all human rights accords. ... In fact, we're providing financial assistance to those leaving their homes, so it's not like we are just taking anything without compensating for it."

When asked about Jews who might refuse to leave their homes and must be forcibly removed, Gissin said, "In a democratic society, the minority must follow the majority rules. The state has every right to enforce its legitimately constructed laws."

Some have been questioning planned police tactics for use against settlers who refuse to leave their homes.

Several sources within the settler establishment told WND in July Sharon was quietly putting together a special unit of police and soldiers composed of Arabs and extreme Israeli leftists to oversee the Gaza evacuation. They said the units are more distanced from the settlement movement and less likely to refrain from using force to remove Jewish residents from Gaza.

Confirming the report, Moshe Feiglin, Likud member and leader of the Manhigut Yehudit nationalist party told WND, "I know the army is developing units like that. They will not outright advertise that only Arabs and leftists will be acceptable, but in order to be accepted to such a unit you have to agree to take part in a unit created specifically for a political act. So it will be ensured those in such a unit agree."

With Sharon's plan to vacate Gaza drawing near and the possibility of settler resistance high, many media stories have speculated on the possible methods to be used to coordinate the withdrawal plan.

IDF leaders have said they want to employ police instead of soldiers to remove Jewish settlers, explaining police units are more properly trained in the confrontation of civilian dissenters and have more legal authority and maneuvering room than do IDF soldiers when it comes to domestic issues.

A recent article in Israel's B'Sheva weekly newspaper said Israeli police are preparing non-Jews to put down settler revolts and have been giving instruction on hiding identity badges and using violence without leaving external signs which could be used as evidence against them. The report said officers have been told the police department will not act on any complaints against police brutality during the evacuation.

A settler group placed signs in Jerusalem featuring a fake advertisement for joining such a unit.

"Wanted. Non-Jews living in Israel who wish to join a huge and exciting anti-Semitic project. ... Needed: dynamic, motivated, violent and healthy soldiers, preferably without any special sympathy for Jews and without strong patriotic feelings toward the Land of Israel, who are seeking a challenge that offers the opportunity to take out your aggressions on Jew boys.

"Don't miss this golden opportunity to be supplied with uniforms, equipment, wonderful benefits and instructions to beat and expel Jews from their homes. Apply to Ariel Sharon ... ."

Schochetman argued the Gaza evacuation may violate U.S. and international law on other levels. He says the British Mandate, which was adopted by the League of Nations and later by the United Nations, gives Jews control over the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, and any violation of this right "is a violation of international law that may apply to the use of American aid."

"Since the British Mandate was established, nothing until this day has occurred to changed it. When the United Nations replaced the League, they formulated Article 80 of the U.N. Charter, which preserved the rights of all people recognized by the League of Nations."

He said control of the West Bank, which was captured during the 1967 Six Day War, "also applies to international law. Jews who settled in lands conquered in 1967 didn't settle in other countries, but in their internationally recognized homeland."

Schochetman said, "What we see today is that the U.S., Europe other countries want Jews to get out of the West Bank because they adopted the Arab lie that Jews invaded illegally the lands of the Palestinians. But never in history have we ever had such a thing as Palestinian sovereignty over any part of Palestine. I am sorry to say that today the Israeli government has also adopted this Arab lie."

He recognizes his views regarding Jewish sovereignty are not held by many Israeli legal authorities.

"I know if this issue were brought to the [Israeli] Supreme Court, they would not accept my view because of current politics," he said. "The view now that guides most of Israel's judges and lawmakers seems to be governed by political trends"

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said, "Putting aside international mandates, Israel has never explained why this capitulation to Arab terror promotes peace or security. It seems clear to me the forced deportation of Jews is a human and civil right violation that should not be supported by United States with either arms or financial aid."

Story Credit: Worldnetdaily