NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9586

Text File | 1992-12-24 | 8.8 KB | 193 lines

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From: Hank Roth <[e-mail]>
Subject: Israel's Aggression in Lebanon
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{From ISRAEL'S WAR IN LEBANON:
Eyewitness Chronicles of the Invasion and Occupation. Compiled by
Franklin P. Lamb, 1984, Bertand Russell Peace Foundation/also
available from South End Press.}

"Events, no matter how ghastly, quickly lose reality when reduced
to the flat, journalistic, prose of day-to-day reporting. This
excellent book should help arrest that process since it vividly
records the reckless brutality of that event through
unchallengeable eyewitness accounts. Without such a work as this,
the whole gruesome episode could well be lost in unread footnotes
as the perpetrators invent---and wishful thinkers shamelessly
expound---an exculpatory mythology." (Honorable George W. Ball,
Former Undersecretary of State)

INTRODUCTION---PART 3

THE REQUIREMENT OF PROPORTIONALITY

The international law requirement of proportionality in the use
of force applies even to a legitimate exercise of the right to
self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Perhaps more
compelling today than Webster's "instant and overwhelming"
standard for the use of self-defense, noted [below], is his
articulation of the requirement of proportionality. To the
British Government, Webster wrote:

  "It will be for Her Majesty's government to show also that the
   local authorities of Canada, even supposing the necessity of the
   moment authorized them to enter the territories of the United
   States at all [referring to the CAROLINE affair in a previous
   post], DID NOTHING UNREASONABLE OR EXCESSIVE; [my emphasis] since
   the act justified by the necessity of self-defense must be
   limited by that necessity and kept clearly within it."

Proportionality means that force used in response to actual or
anticipated armed attack must be proportional, in both kind and
amount, to the precipitating atack. The principle of
proportionality requires that the response to a threat be limited
in intensity and magnitude to what is reasonably necessary
promptly to secure the permissible objectives of self-defense. In
different words, this requirement entails a limitation of means
and a limitation in time for the exercise of the right of self-
defense. The means employed in defensive intervention must be
strictly confined to the removal of the danger and must be
reasonably proportioned to that objective.

The United States supports this rule of international law. James
B. Michel, deputy legal advisor at the Staqte Department,
testified recently on this issue before the house Committee on
Foreign Affairs. On July 15, 1982, following the Israeli
invasion, he advised the committee that the United States' view
is:

  "You [a country, or member of the international community] can
   only use such force as is proportional to meet the danger, to
   meet the threat, and to respond it it; that is, there is not a
   license to go on and obliterate a state that has committed wrong
   against you."

This statement is consistent with well accepted international law.

According to the Secretary General, Israel invaded Lebanon with a
force of "more than two mechanized divisions with full air and
naval support." The widely reported devastation, dislocation, and
suffering visited by Israel on the civilian Lebanese and
Palestinian population resulted in more than 50,000 dead or
wounded and 600,000 made homeless, as well as more than $10
billion in property damage. This carnage is egregiously
disporportionate to any alleged harm or threat of harm to
Israel's legitimate national security interests posed by the
presence of the PLO in Lebanon.

Indeed, during the UN Security Council debate on the Israeli
invasion, no delegate supported the argument that Israeli actions
met the proportionality requirement. Discussing proportionality,
the chairman of the Israeli Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee stated to the NEW YORK TIMES that the Israeli action in
Lebananon was not intended to be proportional.

Finally any unilateral claim, in this case by Israel, to self-
defense must be determined to be reasonable in all its
circumstances for it to be honored by community tolerance and
acquiesence. The State's determination that self-defense is
necessary, as well as the proportionality of the actions it
takes, is subject to review by the international community.
Review of Israel's invasion by the international community has
rejected Israel's claims that it was acting in self-defense.

`AGGRESSION' IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

International customary law as to what constitutes "aggression"
was codified in the December 14, 1974 UN-sponsored draft
definition of aggression which the United States has strongly
supported. In this resolution, the UN General Assemby defined
aggression as:

1. the invasion or attack by the armed forces of a state on the
territory of another state, or any military occupation, however
temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any
annexation by the use of force of the territory of another state
or part thereof

2. bombardment by the armed forces of a state against the
territory of another state or the use of any weapons by a state
against the territory of another state

3. the blockade of the parts or coasts of a state by the armed
forces of another state.

Two other General Assembly resolutions are relevant to this issue:
the Declaration on the Inadmissability of Intervention (1965),
and the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning
Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States in Accordance
with the Charter of the United Nations (1970). Examined together,
these resolutions establish that virtually the whole of the
international community has adopted as law the standard that any
nonconsensual military intervention by one state into the
territory or affairs of another state is outlawed. Consequently,
the Israeli invasion of Lebanon constitutes an "act of aggression"
within the meaning and purpose of these resolutions.

Moreover, Article 2 of the Definition of Aggression provides that
the "first use of armed force by a State in contravention of the
Charter shall constitute prima facie evidence of an act of
aggression." By its actions, including its rejection of Security
Council Resolution 508, which the PLO accepted, as well as its
massive invasion of Lebanon was further confirmed by Security
Council and General Assembly Resolutions, including Security
Council Resolution 509 of June 6, 1982, in which the Council
demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all
Israeli troops from Lebanon. The resolution stated:

  "Reaffirming the need for strict respect for the territorital
   integrity, sovereignity and political independence of Lebanan
   within its internationally recognized boundaries, [the Security
   Council] demands that Israel withdraw all its military forces
   forthwith and unconditionally from the internationally recognized
   boundaries of Lebanon..."

On August 4, 1982, the Security Council, by a vote of 14-0,
reaffirmed this resolution and, in Resolution 517, censured
Israel for the invasion.

"[We are] deeply shocked and alarmed by the deplorable
consequences of the Israeli invasion of Beirut on 3 August 1982;
[The Security Council] confirms once again its demand for an
immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon
[and] censures Israel for its failure to comply with the above
Resolutions."

<End of Part 3>

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