Amnesty: Palestinian groups committed war crimes

Oren Dorell | USA TODAY

Indiscriminate attacks by Palestinians on civilians during last summer's 50-day fight with Israel killed more Palestinians than Israelis and amounted to war crimes, the Amnesty International rights group said.

Rocket attacks by Hamas and other armed groups killed six civilians in Israel. At least 13 Palestinian civilians were also killed, including 11 children, when Palestinian projectiles landed in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza, according to a report by the group issued Wednesday.

The report comes as the Palestinian Authority prepares to join the International Criminal Court on April 1 and plans to seek charges of war crimes against Israel and Israeli officials. Joining the court could make the Palestinian Authority and Hamas vulnerable to prosecution.

"Palestinian armed groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, repeatedly launched unlawful attacks during the conflict, killing and injuring civilians," said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program. "In launching these attacks, they displayed a flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law and for the consequences of their violations on civilians in both Israel and the Gaza Strip."

Amnesty International has also said Israel should be investigated for its conduct in the war, which killed at least 1,585 Palestinian civilians, including 530 children, and destroyed at least 16,245 homes in Gaza. On the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six civilians died.

According to the United Nations, more than 4,800 rockets and 1,700 mortars were fired from Gaza toward Israel during the war. Two hundred twenty-four projectiles hit Israeli residential areas, and as many others were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile-defense system.

Unguided munitions used by Palestinian armed groups "are inherently indiscriminate," and using such weapons is prohibited under international law, Amnesty International said.

Luther called on Palestinian armed groups to "end all direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks" and to take precautions to protect their own civilians. "This includes taking all possible measures to avoid locating fighters and arms within or near densely populated areas," he said.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in December that he would seek membership in the International Criminal Court.

The court has begun the process to open an investigation of the Gaza conflict. Any such prosecution would be the first time anyone outside Africa was charged by the court.

The United States, which is not a member of the international court, would oppose prosecuting Israel, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said.

Having the Palestinians turn to the international tribunal would pose risks for Israel, but it could backfire on Palestinian authorities, said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center, an Israeli group that uses international courts to seek financial redress for victims of terror.

Shurat Hadin has filed a complaint with the tribunal's prosecutor against Abbas because groups affiliated with his Fatah Party launched rocket and mortar attacks during the Gaza fight, even though Abbas said he opposed firing rockets at Israel.

In February, Shurat Hadin won a $655 million judgment in a New York federal court against the Palestinian Authority, which approved financial payments to terrorists and their families for undertaking attacks during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, of 2001-2002.

"The Palestinian Authority said (the terrorists) were not authorized, they did it on their free time, outside their job description," Darshan-Leitner said. "We proved the opposite by showing the Palestinian authorities took these terrorists arrested by Israel and supported them, gave them a salary, promoted them in rank and supported their families. You can't say these were rogue operations outside their authority and they're not responsible for it."

Previous attempts to indict Abbas at the international court were rejected because the Palestinian Authority was not a member.