On Wednesday, March 6, 2002, at 03:28 PM, Seth Ackerman wrote:
> Nathan Newman wrote:
>
>> Civil wars are actually largely outside UN
>> conventions on war crimes, except for the singular exception of
>> genocide,
>> and until Palestine is recognized as an independent state, all the
> legalese
>> around "war crimes" is kind of misguided -- remember, they were going
> after
>> Sharon only for his acts in Lebanon back in 1982 because of this basic
>> international rule over war crimes.
>
> Nathan, this is just wrong. The UN has affirmed over and over again
> that the
> Geneva Conventions apply to the occupied territories. And we all know
> that a
> "grave breach" of the Geneva Conventions is a war crime. In fact, the
> ICRC
> rep for the territories last year actually used the word "war crimes" to
> describe the settlements.
>
i wanted to avoid this, but you're exactly right about the UN and the occupied territories. not that US vetoes and abstentions have helped much, but even the US has had to agree more than once.
jeff