Posted Mar 8, 2004 by combattant pour liberte
Did you hear that Hamasa released the "matyrdom" videotape, shot in the Gaza Strip, showing British Muslims (I think both English) who became Hamas militants. Asif Hanif, 21 suicide bombed a bar in Tel Aviv. Omar Khan Sharif, 27 attempted to bomb the bar, but his explosives failed. He fled and was later found dead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3543269.stm
Although--as you can tell by my nickname--I support the Palestinian cause and the Palestinians to engage armed resistance to the occupation, I condemn this action of my fellow Britons. The Israeli government--of course--slurs all the guerrillas who resist their illegal occupations by calling them "terrorists", which is usually a biased word, especially in the Middle East, as Robert Fisk has commented on. These two militants were war criminals, just like as Israeli fighter pilots who bomb densely popoulated areas and their political masters.
On the tape, in English, they condemned the Israel government as [state] "terrorists". It is true the Israeli military (or "Defense" Forces) murders Palestinian civilians, and has murdered thousands of Lebanese and other Arab civilians in the past. This does not not justify their conspiracy to murder Israli civilians in retaliation.
Hanif murdered two waitresses and a musician and injured dozens with schrapnel, in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. All three people were unarmed civilians. Sharif attempted to do this. If they were willing to give their lives in this foreign war, why didn't they attack the Israeli military or security forces--inside in the Occupied Territories or in Israel*? It wasn't too late when they got to Tel Aviv--they could either have walked away, or tried to find a military target (Tel Aviv must be full of armed security forces members as a result of the second intifada).
I wonder if British courts would attempt to prosecute a British national for murder if they had killed an armed Israeli soldier or security forces member, or whether they would recognise their combatant status. Probably not, since the British government gave separatist Chechen deputy premier, special envoy and (ex?)guerrilla leader Akhmed Zakayev asylum after his extradition case collapsed, partially due to Russian practice of torture (something Russia and Israel both do). And Chechnya is officially considered part of Russia by the UN and international community, while the West Bank (inc. annexed E Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the annexed Golan Heights are not considered part of Israel.
*If it was legal to bomb military targets in Iraq during their occupation of Kuwait, it must be legal to do the same during their occupation of Palestine, a part of Syria (the Golan Heights) and their previous occupations of various parts of Lebanon (until Hezbullah guerrillas threw them out in 2000) and the Sinai Desert in Egypt. Although it obviously seems less agressive to confine your attacks to the Occupied Territories.
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