Israel Drafting Convention Against Suicide Attacks

(ABC News/Reuters) Gwen Ackerman - Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker explained, "Until now the only attention has been on Israel being accused of war crimes for fighting suicide terrorism." The Ministry is now drafting an international convention to set down some rules of warfare against suicide attackers. Possible clauses in the convention could ban financial support, such as Iraq has been providing in the West Bank and Gaza, for families of suicide bombers and outlaw incitement to carry out suicide attacks, Baker said. Colonel Daniel Reisner, head of the Israeli military's international law department, said there was no international legal rulebook on how to deal with suicide attackers. While "the rules of warfare differentiate between combatants and civilians...the law breaks down when civilians take up weapons," Reisner said. [Both spoke Monday at a briefing sponsored by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.]


2002-11-26 00:00:00

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